The title I’m Still Here implies both hope and defiance, just what a real-life woman displayed when a Brazilian dictatorship disrupted her family. Based on a memoir by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, I’m Still Here celebrates his mother Eunice, who turned into a champion for freedom after a raid by soldiers sent her to prison along with her husband and daughter. The raid feels sadly familiar movies about unjust imprisonment during the Holocaust or the Soviet takeover of eastern European countries or other Latin American dictatorships cover similar material. Preventing his film from diluting the impact of an all-too common event, director Walter Salles benefits from a strong central performance by Fernanda Torres as a tiger mother with a backbone of steel. The role demands a breadth of emotions, from the smiling joy of beach play with her husband and five children to terror in a dark cell, plus the anger, frustration, and sadness of dealing with a system that squashes people like ants. The real-life Paivas aged into dementia and makes a strong and inspiring focal point as Torres shows in her controlled and knowing performance. Other aspects of the film work well, blending archival Super 8 film footage of the era around scenes recreating events faced by the Paiva family. Some questions remain unanswered—like why son Marcelo uses a wheelchair. Still, boasting outstanding films such as
The Motorcycle Diaries and Central Station behind him, director Salles knows how to spark emotion from events that feel sadly predictable in a world where dictatorships continue.
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