[Review] I’m Still Here: Remember It Well
In recent years, the list of ten Best Picture nominees at the Oscars has consistently included a non-English international film, which often goes on to win Best International Feature. Examples include the historic Best Picture winner Parasite and last year's The Zone of Interest. This year, the film nominated for Best Picture that also won Best International Feature is the Brazilian film I’m Still Here.
At first, I'm Still Here appears to be a family drama. The protagonists, Eunice (Fernanda Torres) and Rubens (Selton Mello), have a large family with children of varying ages, and they’re busy juggling very different responsibilities. Their youngest son wants a dog, their youngest daughter has just lost a tooth, and their eldest daughter is dealing with friendship issues. These scenes have a lighthearted, quick pace, giving the audience a sense of the family's ordinary harmony. We don't even know much about Eunice and Rubens's backgrounds, only that they are the parents of several children. However, amid the scenes of everyday family life, a different atmosphere begins to permeate the film: helicopters occasionally hover in the air, the eldest daughter is searched by the military on her way home, and Rubens secretly hands a mysterious package to a stranger at night. Yet Eunice seems largely unfazed by it all, continuing her daily routine.
Eunice's life is completely changed on the day the military arrives to take Rubens in for questioning. She realizes she has no control over her life and that her existence is full of uncertainty. As she watches her husband being taken away, she is helpless. She initially expects him to return soon, but he doesn't. She tries to be polite to the military officers, hoping for some news, but their silence remains absolute. Later, she and her daughter are blindfolded and taken away for questioning themselves. In these moments, she is more concerned for her daughter's safety than her own. We never see Eunice being tortured directly, but we see her return to her cell soaking wet and exhausted. What's even more terrifying is the psychological horror of being trapped in a lightless cell, interrogated over and over again, losing all sense of time and not knowing what's happening to her family.
After her release, Eunice returns home to find her children safe and sound, a moment of fleeting relief. But Rubens is still missing. The military not only denies having taken him but fabricates a story that he has fled the country. Everyone—from a teacher who was also taken in for questioning to the bank clerk who handles Eunice's family account—likely knows the truth, but they all have to live in a lie and pretend that everything is normal. This, perhaps, is what daily life looks like under a military dictatorship. With the military's determined cover-up, Eunice can only secretly gather information from those around her to finally learn why her husband was arrested. Even after she discovers that Rubens is dead, she cannot tell her family and must continue to live in a lie, bearing the torment and pain of the truth all by herself.
I’m Still Here has a recurring motif: photographs. Before Rubens is taken, he, Eunice, and their children pose for a joyous family photo on the beach. After his arrest, a newspaper photographer asks the family to pose with serious, sorrowful expressions for a cover story, but they defiantly insist on smiling, showing their active resistance against oppression. Decades later, after democracy is restored in Brazil and the government finally declassifies the truth about Rubens's case, an older Eunice is seen on camera with a triumphant smile, having persevered for decades to get justice for her husband. After Rubens disappears, Eunice repeatedly looks back at his photographs. When she is old (Fernanda Montenegro) and appears to have lost her sanity, the sight of a photo of Rubens on a TV screen seems to trigger memories. After that night, Eunice never saw Rubens again. All she had were the few photos to remember her loved one's face. Under the brutal rule of a military dictatorship, many people experience this kind of permanent separation from their loved ones. All they have left are their few photos to keep their memory of their family alive and to hold on to the truth in their hearts.
Trailer:
Synopsis:
BRAZIL, 1971 - Brazil faces the tightening grip of a military dictatorship. Eunice Paiva, a mother of five children is forced to reinvent herself after her family suffers a violent and arbitrary act by the government.
Photo and Source: Sony Pictures Classics