I'm Still Here (2024)

Director Walter Salles’ depiction of a close-knit family during a frightening period in Brazil’s history drew in a surprisingly large audience. Our super-efficient air conditioning certainly did us proud on the hottest day of the year.  A visiting dog behaved itself.

The much-acclaimed 2024 film tells the story of Eunice Paiva and her family. Eunice’s husband Rubens disappears at the hands of Brazil's military dictatorship in 1971 and we witness her bravery and tenacity in her search for answers about his disappearance. A true Mother Courage, it takes her 25 years to receive a death certificate.

For one of the discussion group, it was their third time seeing the film and it was “a triumph” and “remarkably prescient.”  Everything in the Paiva family changes for ever with a knock on the door from the military. “You never know what is round the corner,” was one comment.

Walter Salles’ previous films - Central Station (1998) and The Motorcycle Diaries (2004) were recommended.  Fernanda Torres, who played the remarkable Eunice Paiva, gave an amazing sensitive performance as the strong mother who kept the family together in the most testing of times. This is more than a political film, it is also a testament to love and devotion.

Touchingly, Fernanda’s mother Fernanda Montenegro appears at the end playing Eunice near the end of her life, when she has Alzheimer’s.

We were lucky to have a Brazilian member of the discussion group who shared some fascinating family stories about the regime. She told us about Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Eunice’s only son. Marcelo’s book, Feliz Ano Velho (Happy Old Year), is about his diving accident which left him with tetraplegia. This was required reading in Brazilian schools.

The Brazilian films Olga (2004) and Nise: The Heart of Madness (2015) were recommended.

Anne