M, 137 minutes
5 Stars
Review by © Jane Freebury
Although not immediately apparent, it’s clear from the start. Clear that for the big, happy family centreframe who are playing volleyball at the beach—and what a beach—and with a home just across the road, the carefree mood cannot last. A helicopter slices the air overhead, military vehicles roll past in the middle distance, and for a few harrowing moments at a roadblock a teenage daughter is interrogated. These are incidental and seem to lead nowhere, but when the rupture finally arrives it is no surprise. The suspense that takes hold in opening scenes fluctuates throughout.
This story of a family whose idyllic life in Rio de Janeiro is shattered by political violence is a welcome return to the big screen by a filmmaker who we haven’t seen enough of. What’s more, Walter Salles brings the intensity of being witness to events that took place. His latest film is based on a book about events that he is intimately acquainted with, having been friendly with children of the Paiva family while living nearby as a teen.
The book on which the screenplay is based was written by Marcelo (Guilherme Silveira), Ruben and Eunice’s only son. He was one of the three writers who collaborated on the movie’s screenplay.
A return to the big screen by a filmmaker we haven’t seen enough of
Rubens Paiva, engineer and father of five, was taken away by officers of Brazil’s military junta in 1970 and never seen again. A former congressman, who declared himself politically inactive, he had returned to a busy professional life with a large family to support. The extent of his dissidence is vague and may have connected with oppositional forces in neighbouring countries, but the upshot is that he was disappeared by the military junta, like tens of thousands of others in Latin America during the 1960s-1980s. I’m Still Here is a chilling account of what can happen to citizens if a regime regards them as dissident.
As Rubens, Selton Mello portrays a chubby, generous man who adores his wife Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and their boisterous tribe of children. Although it is their intention to carry on as though nothing sinister is happening, it becomes apparent that the couple are keeping a weather eye on their political masters. They will send their elder daughter, Veroca (Valentina Herszage), away to London, as she is likely to become politically outspoken when she goes to university. The junta had already been in power for six years.
The focus is Eunice who with dignity, strength and composure expresses the enormity of the family tragedy
With Veroca goes the cinecamera footage that she likes to shoot at home and out and about. Her 16mm home movies and archival footage sourced from newsreels are integrated into the wider narrative as the Paiva family story unfolds.
The focus is Eunice, and her dignity, strength and composure, as Torres’ expressive face increasingly carries the enormity of the family tragedy. After her husband is incarcerated and subjected to torture during interrogation, she and her second oldest daughter, Eliana (Luiza Kosovski), are arrested as well, though eventually allowed to return to their home.
In harrowing scenes in prison—against the current trend in which many movies capitalise on every opportunity to portray vicious violence—her realisation and understanding of the cruel fate of her husband is etched into her face. Eunice is forced to endure 12 days in prison during her interrogation. Oh, the visceral cringe induced in us as the lid of a metal cigarette lighter in the hands of one of those interrogators snaps shut.
On release, she rallies with energy and purpose, moving the family to Sao Paolo where she begins studies in law. Remarkable change is detailed in the film’s final scenes in which the characters’ older selves are played by other actors. Including Eunice who is played by Torres’ own mother, Fernanda Montenegro, who was a lead character in Central Station.
Director Salles has had first-hand experience of a life of privilege on the beach in Rio, far from the favelas. Yet in the films he is celebrated for, like Central Station, he has explored the lives of the illiterate who neither enjoy the fruits of education nor enjoy the privilege signified by rooms filled with books. And has explored the lives of those who challenge the system, like Latin America’s most famous radical, Che Guevara, whose monumental road trip we experience in Motorcycle Diaries. This new Salles film is right up there with his best.
Published first in the Canberra Times on 28 February 2025. My reviews are also published on Rotten Tomatoes