One thing that cinema does so well is telling us about historical events that have either been forgotten or we knew little about. I didn’t know much about the Brazilian dictatorship in the early 1970s, but thanks to Walter Salles’s exceptional drama, I’m Still Here, I have become more aware. It also seems very appropriate that such a film should appear now when we live in a world of uncertainty where there seem to be far more dictators running various countries than we could imagine.

Rubens Paiva is a former congressman who has returned to Rio De Janeiro after self-imposed exile and is living an everyday existence with his wife, Eunice, and five children. One day, he is taken by government officials to give a deposition to the authorities. Without any knowledge of his whereabouts and if he is still alive, Eunice mounts a campaign to find out the truth and to find her husband.

Salles is a highly regarded director whose past credits include Central Station and The Motorcycle Diaries. This is his first feature since 2014, and he has delivered a powerhouse drama that never rises to histrionics but is subtle, often quietly subdued but constantly fascinating. His approach to storytelling, based on the book by the son of Rubens Paiva, Marcelo Rubens Paiva, focuses not on the dictatorship itself but on the effects on a family desperate for answers.

Taking the time to explore the family dynamics, I see that life in Rio in 1970 looks, on the outside, as idyllic and every day as it can be: going to the beach, having family gatherings, and just enjoying life. Yet these moments are interrupted by troops travelling through the streets or roadblocks where the military throws around innocent bystanders. There are mumblings of the destain within the family, as news reports of a missing ambassador echo from the television. Still, the Paiva’s try to go about life without it entering their home until the night when Rubens is taken.

The tone then shifts to one of peril, despair and desperate hope. Eunice has to become a strong, defiant mother, protecting her family while trying to discover what happened to her husband. She, too, is taken in for questioning and spends days being asked the same questions about those connected to her family. Salles doesn’t hold back, and these scenes are often difficult to watch, as she is hooded and treated with little respect.

The film also focuses on how false information is being sent out and how the truth is often stifled, a common factor today. Propaganda for the dictatorship while stories of the disappearance do not reach the Brazilian public, yet are being told in other countries. It could be seen that this film has been released purposely now.

It reminds me of Costa-Gavras’s underrated 1982 thriller, Missing, in which Jack Lemmon and Sissy Spacek are trying to find an American writer who disappears in the Chilean coup in 1973. Unable to get help from the authorities and unable to speak the truth to the press, Eunice is in a position where most would give up, but she refuses.

With first-rate cinematography by Adrian Teijido and a terrific score by Warren Ellis, capturing the sense of the period and using some fascinating needle drops, this film engulfs you with the time and the emotions. You genuinely care for the plight of this family and the lengths that Eunice will go to. In one telling scene, the woman’s strength is shown when a news photographer takes a photo, asking them not to smile, but she refuses.

The performances from all of the cast, young and old, are exceptional, but Fernanda Torres shines. Already a Golden Globe winner, she is a woman pushed to the brink of hell and back yet constantly dignified. It would have been easy for her to scream and shout and make a scene, but instead, she is quiet and often reserved, and the restraint of her delivery is perfection to watch. It is one of the finest performances around and worth watching just for her.

I’m Still Here is a must-see. It tells a story rich with character but brimming with underlined tension. You are taken, along with the family, on a journey that no one wants to go on, and you will leave shaken and emotional. It is one of the best this year, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if it wasn’t on the Best of 2025 list at the end of the year. Outstanding.

5 out of 5

Director: Walter Salles

Starring: Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mello, Valentina Herszage, Maria Manoella, Barbara Luz, Gabriela Carneiro da Cunha, Luiza Kosovski

Written by: Murilo Hauser, Helton Lorega and (based on the book) Marcelo Rubens Paiva

Running Time: 137 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 21st February 2025