Firmly planted as one of the year’s best films, “I’m Still Here” roots us within its tense and turbulent setting as good as any other movie you’ll see in 2024. Brazilian director Walter Salles, working from a screenplay by Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega, tells the powerful true story of Eunice Paiva, a wife and mother navigating through and eventually rising above a harrowing political whirlwind.

Based on Marcelo Rubens Paiva’s 2015 memoir “Ainda Estou Aqui”, “I’m Still Here” is set in Rio de Janeiro during the early 1970s amid an oppressive military dictatorship. In the Spring of 1964 the Brazilian Armed Forces carried out a coup d’état to overthrow embattled president João Goulart. The dictatorship that followed lasted 21 years and was marked by numerous human rights abuses including forced disappearances, torture, and executions.

Salles earns our investment early by dedicating a lot of screen time to developing the Paiva family. Eunice is the heart of the film and played with such emotional force by a brilliant Fernanda Torres. She shares a loving marriage with Rubens (Selton Mello), an engineer and former congressman. Together they have five kids – a son and four daughters, and all live in a lively two-story home near the beach.

The Paiva’s are a fun and vibrant family with members full of their own character, from the staunchly activist-minded Vera (Valentina Herszage) who heads off to London to study sociology to the intensely observant and news-conscience Eliana (Luiza Kosovski) whose grasp of their troubled world is beyond her years. Not only are they incredibly well written, both individually and as group, the performances are full of energy and heart.

But the family’s happy existence is interrupted one evening when a group of mysterious armed men show up demanding Rubens come with them to give “a deposition”. As he is escorted away, three men stay behind to keep watch over Eunice and their kids. A day passes without news from either Rubens or the government sanctioned agents who took him. As Eunice pushes for information, more men arrive and take her and Eliana, subjecting them to draining and abusive interrogations.

Eunice and Eliana are finally released but are left without any word on Rubens. The authorities play dumb to the point of denying Rubens was ever taken into their custody. The rest of the film follows Eunice’s search for the truth about her husband‘s abduction while at the same time doing everything she can to support and protect her children. It’s a powerful story based on true events and galvanized by Torres’ sublime performance – one of the year’s best.

Positioned as Brazil’s entry for Best International Feature at the upcoming Academy Awards, “I’m Still Here” is a historical drama that is worthy of every consideration. It tells an intense, enlightening, and heart-wrenching story of a family’s survival under the watch of an oppressive regime. It’s expertly brought to life by Salles who makes several candid statements on Brazilian history while maintaining an affecting focus on human resilience amid great suffering. Don’t miss it.

VERDICT – 4.5 STARS