I'm Still Here
Walter Salles’s I’m Still Here is one of those films that insinuates itself into the viewer’s conscience. We feel we should watch this acclaimed movie - the real-life story of a former politician ‘disappeared’ by Brazil’s military junta in 1971, and the strength shown by a wife who rebuilds their family’s life. That’s the plot in one sentence, but Salles, in characteristic fashion, takes his time to introduce us to the characters and build up detail.
This method immerses us in the life of the Paiva family, giving us a sense of their distinctive personalities, before the secret police come knocking on the door and everything changes. We spend the first part of the film waiting for that moment, wondering how much longer we’ll be playing ‘happy familes’. Eventually, this extended scene-setting becomes frustrating, as the crux of the story is delayed.
The result is a film without suspense, where everything proceeds by ponderous stages. The main emotional charge is a sense of slowly building tragedy, as we watch Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), trying to cope with her husband’s arrest and find a path forward for her family. We can admire Eunice’s unbreakable spirit – and Fernanda Torres’s outstanding performance – but there’s no surprise or complexity. This is, one suspects, far more realistic than that endless chain of films “based on a true story”, which may be taken as code for “fiction and distortion.”