The star of this biographical drama – which just won Best International Feature at The Academy Awards – is Fernanda Torres, considered by many to be the greatest Brazilian actress of all time.
In I’m Still Here, she plays the role of Eunice Paiva, (1929-2018)  a  human rights activist, whose life changed drastically in 1971 when her husband Rubens Paiva, a critic of Brazil’s military dictatorship, was tortured and killed by the regime.
The film is based on a memoir written by Marcelo Rubens Paiva,  Eunice’s son, who was 11 years old when his father was kidnapped and murdered.
The screenplay is by Marcelo Paiva, Murilo Hansen and Heiton Lorega.
Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello) was a former dissident congressman and civil engineer living with his wife and five children in a beach house in Rio de Janeiro when men with guns took him away. He was never seen again.
Later Eunice and her 15 year old daughter were also held and interrogated. The daughter was released after 24 hours, but Eunice was kept isolated and questioned over 12 days.
The family moved from Rio to San Paulo where Eunice studied law at the age of 48 and became an expert on indigenous rights in Brazil. She was a counsellor to the Federal Government, the World Bank and the United Nations.
Director Walter Salles (The Motorcycle Diaries) is regarded as one of Brazil’s greatest film makers. The film has a brilliant sound track and an outstanding performance from Fernanda Torres whose mother Fernanda Monenegro (also an Oscar nominated actress) plays her character  Eunice, as an elderly lady.
The Brazilian far-right tried unsuccessfully to boycott I’m Still Here. It’s received accolades from the public, film critics, and the international press and won multiple awards.
Highly recommended!
137 minutes.
Now showing at Luna Leederville, Luna SX Fremantle and Windsor Nedlands.
Watch the trailer…
Saw it (and loved it) @ Luna on SX in Freo March 12.
It was a timely reminder that cruel governments and twisted politics are not the sole domain of today’s humanitarian disasters in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. And yes, Fernanda Torres, as Eunice, was brilliant. BC.