“I’m Still Here”: “It’s a film about memory”, says Fernanda Torres

The award-winning “I’m Still Here “, new film by the director Walter Salles hits theaters this Thursday (7). The film, according to the protagonist Fernanda Torres is “about memory” and “proposes a reflection about dictatorship and an authoritarian state through family and affection “.

“I’m Still Here” is based on the book of the same name written by Marcelo Rubens Paiva which talks about the disappearance of his father, the former deputy Rubens Paiva (Selton Mello in the film), during the Military Dictatorship. So the author’s mother, Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), begins to face the authoritarian state in search of answers about her husband’s whereabouts.

Eunice Paiva dedicated her life to seeking justice for both her family and the families of other political prisoners disappeared by the regime. She only got the answer about what happened to her husband in 2014, with the National Truth Commission – years after the disappearance of Rubens Paiva, which occurred in January 1971 .

“It’s a film about memory”, summarized Fernanda Torres, who plays Eunice in the film, to CNN . “Each country resolved it in a different way [as ditaduras militares na América Latina]: Argentina had a very short and very deadly military dictatorship that ended with the Falklands War, which was very traumatic… and this made it easier for there to be a trial and for people to [responsáveis pelos crimes da Ditadura Militar argentina] be judged.”

“They often say: ‘Brazil never did this’. And it’s true, Brazil had a much longer Military Dictatorship that ended up kind of dissipating into a longer crisis,” Torres continued. “And the agreement to end the Dictatorship was a broad, general and unrestricted amnesty for both sides.”

“This is difficult for those who have had relatives disappear”, said the actress. “This solution, for example, never explained to the Paiva family what had actually happened to their father . They never knew, they never had the body .”

“[Apenas] when the [a ex-presidente] Dilma created the Truth Commission was that the family managed to find out what it was like, what the reason was, who killed them, and even understand that it was a mistake on the part of the Dictatorship itself – they tortured more than they should have and ended up killing Rubens Paiva . And imagine how important this is for a family who suffered this .”

The National Truth Commission was established by former president Dilma Rousseff on May 16, 2012 to investigate human rights violations committed from 1946 to 1988, a period that includes the military dictatorship, which lasted from 1964 to 1985. The work in commission resulted in a report in 2014 on 191 deaths and 243 missing people in Brazil and abroad during the military government, in addition to evidence of the “systematic practice of illegal and arbitrary detentions and torture, as well as the commission of executions, forced disappearances and concealment of corpses by agents of the Brazilian State”.

With the report, it was possible for the Paiva family to finally have an answer. According to the statements gathered and the CNV report, it was found that the former deputy was tortured in an “extremely violent” way, which “may have been the main cause of death”.

“So it’s very difficult for everyone who suffered this to sweep their bodies under the rug,” continued the actress in conversation with CNN about the importance of the Truth Commission for the families of victims of the dictatorship, highlighting that some of the soldiers also suffered during the period. “It is a very contradictory time, very confusing, it is very confusing for a torturer who had been called by the State to torture due to the risk of communism invading Brazil and then explain to him that he is no longer a hero, he is a murderer.”

“I’m Still Here” is released in 2024, a year that marks not only 10 years since the launch of the National Truth Commission’s report, but also the resumption of the Special Commission on Political Deaths and Disappearances by the Federal Government, in July this year, after having its activities were interrupted in 2022. This group in question was created by former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso in 1995.

The timing also means that, according to Fernanda Torres, the film brings reflection on the impact of the authoritarian state and the Military Dictatorship on the country and on Brazilian families.

“The reflection this film makes is: ‘Should we go back to this authoritarian state? Is an authoritarian state a good solution?’ An authoritarian state creates this kind of dystopia when you suspend civil rights, which is bad for everyone,” continued the actress. “I’m sure that the Brazilian armed forces have a deep sense of shame for the way they acted, I’m sure of that, and I’m also sure that denying these families clarification about where our dead are is very difficult.”

“’So, to avoid falling into this again, isn’t it better for us not to date authoritarianism?’ – the film proposes this through a family that could be mine, yours, anyone’s . Then is a film that proposes a reflection on the dystopia of a dictatorship and an authoritarian state through a family and affection “, concluded Torres to CNN.

“I’m Still Here”: discover the story that inspired the film with Fernanda Torres

Watch the trailer for “I’m Still Here”:

See also – “I’m Still Here” could compete for an Oscar

“I’m Still Here” was chosen by the Brazilian Cinema Academy to try to represent the country and get a nomination at the 2025 Oscars.

During the press conference about the film, Fernanda Torres said that the possible nomination “is important, but it is not the measure of everything”.

“I’m Still Here” and more: remember Brazil’s 10 Oscar nominations

This content was originally published in “I’m Still Here”: “It’s a film about memory”, says Fernanda Torres on the CNN Brasil website.

Source: CNN Brasil