Banner image: Courtesy of Altitude
It’s been over a decade since Walter Salles’ last feature film: the mildly-received 2012 adaptation of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road. But now the Brazilian director signifies a triumphant return with a devastating true story from his home nation.
I’m Still Here tells the tale of Eunice Paiva, whose husband, Rubens (an architect and an ex-Labour Party congressman) was murdered in 1971 by Brazil’s brutal military dictatorship. While Eunice went on to lead a fascinating life as a lawyer and activist, Salles focuses on the months leading up to and following Rubens’ arrest. Based on their youngest son Marcelo’s 2015 memoir of the same name, I’m Still Here is less a sprawling biopic than an intimate study of a family ripped apart by the violent currents of political turmoil.
We meet the Paiva family in the halcyon days before Rubens’ arrest. Despite their ideological opposition to the current state of affairs (as well as Rubens’ political past, the eldest child, Veroca, is a Beatles-obsessed hippy), their lives are filled with love, joy, and laughter. We witness bright afternoons at Leblon Beach and parties at their Architectural Digest-worthy home – a cosmopolitan hub of drink, dancing, and liberal discussion.
Salles takes his time with these early scenes, painting a sentimental portrait of blissful family life with a sumptuous palette of rich tangerines, lemony yellows, cobalt blues, and emerald greens. This wholesome picture of a paradise soon-to-be lost is especially moving considering that Salles was a family friend and spent time in this sun-drenched household as an adolescent.
Courtesy of Altitude
However idyllic the Paivas’ lives are, the authoritarian regime’s firm but surreptitious grasp is unavoidable. Armoured troop carriers pass by on the streets and a helicopter – apparently used by the military to dump dissenters’ bodies into the ocean – flies overhead as Eunice swims in the bay. Concerned she might antagonise the wrong people, Eunice and Rubens send outspoken and free-spirited Veroca to London with friends. They discuss plans to follow with the other children once their new house is built.
But one day, there’s a knock at the door. It’s a group of stoic thugs who tell Rubens he needs to give a deposition. Though the menace of the situation is clear to the adults, the children, used to strangers in their home, are somewhat oblivious. They flit in and out of frame, chatting amicably with their quietly petrified parents as Rubens gets dressed and leaves, never to be seen by his loved ones again.
This devastating scene, like the film as a whole, deftly illustrates how some of the most horrific crimes are conducted, not in a fiercesome blaze of flagrant brutality, but in hushed tones with an air of bureaucratic civility. Salles shows that an oppressive regime doesn’t have to drop a bomb on your home to destroy your family’s lives when it can invite itself through the front door and corrode it from within.
The horrors of the regime are not made explicit in I’m Still Here. When Eunice and her daughter, Eliana, are questioned at a military prison, wails of anguish are heard through the walls and a fleeting scene of torture is glanced in half-focus as Eunice is led down a hallway. But we never witness the violence directly, which builds an effective atmosphere of unsettlement.
Courtesy of Altitude
Much of the film deals with Eunice’s struggle to protect her family from this malevolent threat while seeking answers and justice for her husband. It especially excels in exploring whether keeping information secret to protect those close is more destructive than the information itself. Just as Rubens kept her in the dark about the subversive activities leading to his arrest, Eunice grapples with what to tell her children about their father’s fate; whether to burden them with the truth or allow them to continue living happily for a while longer.
Salles is in no hurry to push the narrative along, instead prioritising atmosphere and mood. While this works especially well in the film’s first half (particularly the happy family scenes at the beginning and Eunice’s harrowing stint in prison), it’s less effective in the back half. The film has two epilogues, both taking us to separate points in the 21st century. Each is moving in its own way, and it’s easy to see the artistic reasoning behind them. But audiences may be left wondering if Salles could sharpen his conclusion into a more piercing point by doing without the final time jump.
However, where the plot sags, Fernanda Torres is there to pick up the slack with a powerhouse of a performance, perfectly portraying the stony dignity of a woman determined to shield her children from the world’s ugliness. Behind a stiff upper lip, only her eyes belie the anguish that’s ripping up her insides.
Later, in the final coda set in 2014, Torres’ 95-year-old mother Fernanda Montenegro displays an equally persuasive masterclass in acting with the eyes, giving a wordless and understated but utterly moving performance as an older Eunice. Also worth a shoutout is the impressive group of young actors gathered to portray the five Paiva children, who all display restraint and naturalism far beyond their years.
The composition is fantastic, too. You almost want to pause some of the shots and ask the projectionist for a still to hang on your wall. This is particularly true for any scenes inside the Paiva house. Salles and his director of photography, Adrian Teijido, clearly aware of their talent for framing the sharp lines of hallways and doorframes, even incorporate this into the credits for a final moving sequence of the empty Paiva house.
Walter Salles’ latest project is certainly worth the wait and deserves all the accolades lauded on it so far this awards season (and more). It’s a heart-wrenching look at a piece of world history many of us in the UK know little about and a testament to how embracing life in the face of tyranny can become the ultimate form of rebellion.
I’m Still Here is in cinemas on February 21st in the UK
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