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A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is shattered by an arbitrary act of violence during the tightening of a military dictatorship in Brazil in 1971. Selected by the Brazilian Academy of Cinema to compete for Best International Feature Film at the 2025 Academy Awards. Eunice Paiva: Martha, you have to help me. My husband is in danger! Martha: Everyone is in danger, Eunice. Featured in Mais Você: Episode dated December 3, 2024 (2024). A Festa do Santo Reis Written by Léo Maia (as Marcio Leonardo) Performed by Tim Maia. “I’m Still Here” goes beyond just another film about military dictatorship, offering a human, intense and brutally intimate portrait of a family unraveling under overwhelming and uncontrollable forces. Walter Salles, with his raw style and unmatched sensitivity, returns to the theme of a country plunged into repression, but rather than focusing on major political events, he focuses on their consequences in homes and personal lives. By centering the story on family drama, Salles subverts the expectation of a traditional historical film, eschewing documentary tones or a broad, structural approach. Here, Brazil in the 1970s is felt through the struggles of the Paiva family, and in the painful details of their shared wounds, Salles depicts the scars left by a dictatorship that, although distorted in collective memory, remains alive in the lives it shattered. The choice to center the narrative on the point of view of Eunice – played by the iconic Fernanda Torres and Fernanda Montenegro – gives the film an undeniable authenticity. Despite the loss of her husband, Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello), a public figure and defender of the people’s rights, Eunice must keep the family together and preserve the emotional stability of her children. Eunice is the very embodiment of resilience and maternal love. Her daily life, her rituals with her children and the moments shared as a family are slices of a once ordinary life, now destroyed by a sudden absence. Family dinners and memories of trips to the beach become painful when revisited after Rubens’ disappearance, as they reveal the void left by systemic violence. Salles skillfully uses this family intimacy to show how the dictatorship destroys emotional bonds and disrupts the peace of each home, prompting the audience to reflect on how history is also shaped by the losses and silent moments of everyday life. Fernanda Torres’ performance is intensely worthy of praise. She embodies a woman who refuses to be paralyzed by grief, balancing the protection of her children with the relentless search for answers about her husband’s fate. This balance of 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 with those who never had 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 portrait even more sincere and believable. This true continuity allows Salles’ film to transcend mere fiction and achieve a depth that only a personal story can achieve. Technically, the film is a visual achievement that captures the intimate pain of this family through meticulously crafted cinematography. The use of confined spaces and close-ups reveals the depth of the characters. The physical and psychological confinement of the characters reflects the oppression that weighs on their lives. The soundtrack follows the most emotional scenes with an almost mystical quality, mingling with the feelings of the characters like a whisper that contains the pains of the past. Salles’ use of music is interesting, not only to intensify the drama but also to evoke an almost tangible nostalgia in the air, an echo of absences that can never be overcome.