In the dark of the cinema, someone said: “Ainda Estou Aqui is the harrowing portrait of the Brazilian military dictatorship”. The film takes us back to elements, characters and events that marked the history of Brazil and that we must remember so that this never happens again.
The Movie
Released in Brazilian cinemas on November 7, 2024, interestingly on Maria Lucrécia Eunice Facciolla Paiva’s birthday, Ainda Estou Aqui is another breathtaking film by director Walter Salles, known for directing the unforgettable Central do Brasil (1998). In it, the director tells a story about the Military Dictatorship in Brazil that took place between 1964 and 1985, from the perspective of the Paiva family, focusing specifically on the disappearance of the deputy and engineer from Rio, Rubens Paiva.
A constant questioning of the truth is present, and it brings with it the suffering of everyone who lived during the Dictatorship and who had contact with the family in question. It is a film “of profound humanity,” moving, and paying an extraordinary tribute to Rubens.
Walter Salles lived very closely with the Paiva family, which helped him tell this story with all the sentimentality it carries. And, this is one of the biggest differences in the film: the sentimentality and emotions that are addressed in the film and that capture the viewer.
It’s a film about politics, but beyond that, it’s a film about hope, affection, family and resistance. It is also memory and justice for all those who were lost or suffered immeasurable damage during the military coup.
Adaptation of the book
The film is based on the book Ainda Estou Aqui, by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, Rubens Paiva’s only son. Here, Marcelo recalls the family’s pain after the Military Dictatorship killed his father, and the family was left without answers for a long time.
The autobiographical account, with 296 pages, takes the reader through all the darkness and anguish that permeated the family. His mother, Eunice Paiva, is one of the main characters, both in the book and the film.
To compare the two productions, the written and the audiovisual, one word that defines the combination of the two made by director Walter Salles is: Magnificent. The adaptation brings exactly the moment of tension and despair experienced by the family involved in the story. The scenes are very detailed, and we see the care the director took when talking about a delicate subject like this.
Historic moment
One of the things that draws the most attention in this entire story is the moment in which most of the film takes place, in the years 1970 and 1971. In these years, Brazil was going through the Military coup, where a Military Dictatorship was established, this period lasted until 1985.
During these years, more than 20 thousand people opposing the regime were tortured, killed, and disappeared, including Rubens Paiva. There were more than 230 places that served to torture these people, spread across 21 states in Brazil, including prison ships and 17 clandestine houses organized without State apparatus.
Currently, in São Paulo, one of these places is today the Memorial da Resistência, located in the Santa Ifigênia neighborhood. There are weekly programs that talk about how the regime was harsh and exceeded all human rights in Brazilian society.
Actors
Fernanda Torres
Loaded with history, Fernanda Torres plays Eunice Paiva, wife of Rubens Paiva. There would be no one better to do it than Fernanda. In an interview, Fernanda says that her character is much more than what the film shows and that her love for both Rubens and all her children is “like water”, which always finds a way to resist.
Fernanda is a spectacle on and off the screen, managing to captivate the viewer indescribably. Her performance is worthy of an Oscar and many other awards, she said that it had been a long time since she worked with characters like that, but that her partnership with Walter made her able to deliver her best performance.
Fernanda Montenegro
One of the greatest Brazilian actresses, even with her narrow appearance as Eunice in 2016, already with Alzheimer’s, Fernanda Montenegro shows us what acting is. Without even saying a word, just with expressions on our faces, we felt everything Eunice felt at that moment.
At the film’s premiere, she gave an emotional speech, in which she said: “It’s not just about doing it. Doing must have a transcendence. And I am linked to this entire team, which makes its life of transcendent action.” The actress also added: “Can I thank you? I must thank you. As much as I want to look for words to express what I have inside me at this moment, or even in life, I don’t have it. Just feel it. And just say this. It’s suddenly feeling like a film like this, a story like this, a woman like this (Eunice), a family like this.”
This speech says a lot about the moment she played Eunice, who only knew how to feel, she couldn’t speak. But when she saw Rubens’ image on television, even with Alzheimer’s, she remembered everything and everyone.
Selton Mello
Selton Mello had the great mission of bringing Rubens’ memory to light. In addition to being a friend of Marcelo, he declares himself a fan of Marcelo and says that it was a great turn of events for him to play this role. He further adds that “it was my mission to illuminate the first half of the film” and he says that he is very moved and honored to have been chosen and to play this role.
The actor manages to bring a lot of Rubens, both in the love he feels for Eunice and in the resistance he preaches.
Importance of the film in the awards
Its first screen appearance was at the 81st Venice Film Festival, which took place between August 28, 2024, and September 7, 2024. The film was nominated in the following categories: Golden Lion (Nominated), Golden Osella for Best Screenplay (Winner), Green Drop Award (Winner) and SIGNIS Award (Winner). A notable moment of the festival was when the film received a standing ovation for more than 10 minutes after its screening in Venice.
It is one of the most highly rated in Brazil to be nominated for an Oscar, whether for Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Director, or any other category. Walter Salles already felt the taste of coming close to an Oscar, when Fernanda Montenegro, playing the character Dora in Central do Brasil (1998) was nominated for Best Actress, but ended up losing to Gwyneth Paltrow. However, we also almost achieved it by being nominated in the Best Foreign Film category, but lost to the Italian feature Life is Beautiful (1999), by Roberto Begnini.
The importance of having yet another Brazilian film being nominated and, hopefully, nominated for the biggest world cinema award is exactly to show how strong, beautiful, special, and moving Brazilian cinema is. With this nomination, we open doors to increase the visibility of national productions, which will attract new eyes to Brazilian cinema and our film industry as a whole. Furthermore, we can count on financing for new projects and attract the attention of streaming platforms and national distributors.
But much bigger than that is the pride factor. Having a film, that tells about one of the saddest and most distressing periods in the history of Brazil, being told with so much delicacy and feeling, makes us able to feel the message that the director would like to convey to those who watch it. It is very relevant and captivating for us, Brazilians, to have the opportunity to be at such a high level and be recognized for a masterpiece like this.
This film is a combination of all the strengths that Brazil has in making films portraying its history. Walter Salles, Fernanda Torres, Fernanda Montenegro, Selton Mello and everyone involved shone. They shone so much to the point that we were being recognized again around the world.
Go to the cinema and open yourself up to a sentimental experience with every performance, every line, every gesture, and every song that is present in the film. Think and rethink thousands of times about this regime and how cruel it was to our society, however, a country without history is a country without memory. Remember to never forget.
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The article above was edited by Beatriz Gatz.
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