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Eunice Paiva: Martha, you gotta help me
Line of Events
A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family's life is shattered by an act of arbitrary violence during the tightening grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971.. Chosen by the Brazilian Academy of Cinema to compete for Best International Film at the 2025 Oscars.. My husband is in danger!Martha: Everybody’s in danger, Eunice.. Featured in Mais Você: Episode dated 3 December 2024 (2024).
A Festa do Santo ReisWritten by Léo Maia (as Marcio Leonardo)Performed by Tim Maia
"I'm Still Here" goes beyond being just another film about the military dictatorship, offering a human, intense, and brutally intimate portrait of a family unraveling under overwhelming, uncontrollable forces. Walter Salles, with his raw style and unmatched sensitivity, returns to the theme of a country immersed in repression, but rather than focusing on big political events, he zeroes in on their consequences within homes and personal lives. By centering the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectation of a traditional historical film, avoiding documentary tones or a broad, structural focus. Here, 1970s Brazil is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family, and in the painful details of their shared wounds, Salles portrays the scars left by a dictatorship that, while distorted in collective memory, remains alive in the lives it shattered.Choosing to center the narrative through Eunice's perspective-played by the iconic Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro-lends the film an undeniable authenticity.
Family dinners and memories of beach outings become painful when revisited after Rubens' disappearance, as they reveal the empty space left by systemic violence
While dealing with the loss of her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a public figure and defender of the people's rights, Eunice has to keep the family together and maintain her children's emotional stability. Eunice is the pure embodiment of resilience and motherly love, and her daily routine, her rituals with her children, and moments shared as a family are slices of a once-ordinary life, now wrecked by an abrupt absence. Salles skillfully uses this family intimacy to show how dictatorship destroys emotional bonds and disrupts each home's peace, prompting audiences to reflect on how history is also shaped by losses and silent moments in everyday life.Fernanda Torres' performance is intensely deserving of praise. She embodies a woman who refuses to let grief immobilize her, balancing the protection of her children with the relentless search for answers about her husband's whereabouts.
This balance between strength and vulnerability gives Eunice a striking and essential presence in the film
In a moving and remarkably mature performance, Montenegro, as the older Eunice, intensifies the impact of Rubens' absence, bringing a heavy, almost physical silence that resonates in those who never got the chance to say goodbye. The real-life relationship between Montenegro and Torres as mother and daughter adds authenticity to the transitions across time, making Eunice's portrayal even more heartfelt and believable. This genuine continuity allows Salles' film to transcend mere fiction and reach a depth that only a personal story can achieve.Technically, the film is a visual achievement that captures this family's intimate pain through meticulously crafted cinematography. The use of confined spaces and close-up shots reveals the characters' physical and psychological confinement, mirroring the oppression that hangs over their lives.
The soundtrack follows the most emotional scenes with an almost mystical quality, blending with the characters' feelings like a whisper that holds the pains of the past
Salles' use of music is interesting, not just to intensify the drama but to evoke an almost tangible nostalgia in the air, an echo of absences that can never be overcome.