I’m Still Here

Director: Walter Salles, Cast: Fernanda Torres, Valentina Herszage, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mello 2h 15m, PG-13

Film is in Portuguese with English subtitles.

Rio de Janeiro, early 1970s. Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. We are introduced to the Paivas: a father, Rubens, a mother, Eunice, and their five children. They live by the beach, in a rented house with doors constantly open to friends. The affection and humor they share among themselves are their own subtle forms of resistance to the oppression that hangs over the country. One day, they suffer a violent and arbitrary act that will forever change their lives. In the aftermath, Eunice is forced to reinvent herself and carve out a new future for herself and her children. The moving story of this family, based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s memoir, helped to reconstruct an important part of Brazil’s hidden history.