Salles' straightforward yet powerful story of the strength of those left behind when someone goes missing during an illiberal regime is a beautiful film. He focuses on diving deep into the personal interworkings of the family to show both how the loss of their father, and the lack of information of what happened to him, drives them, but also the strength and power of the mother who holds it all together and never gives up. One of the iconic moments is her posing for a family photo for a paper and refusing to not smile. She is defiant throughout. She will not become despondent, nor give up.
Torres is remarkable in the role without being showy. It is no wonder she has garnered so much award love for this role. I loved how she balanced so many aspects of her performance keeping it complicated and internally quite strong. The sheer power of the woman she is playing is impressive and she does her justice.
The film itself is not complicated. Salles just allows his subjects to go forward with their lives. It does suffer a bit from one of my biggest pet peeves about biopics about real people, especially those still alive or recently passed. I'm Still Here paints an overly rosey picture of the Paiva family. They are all angels and they are all amazing in their moral character. This is a picture perfect family, like the picture in that iconic moment. I am sure that while these people are likely very good people for sure, I'm Still Here's refusal to give them any blemishes takes away from the realness. This is a fault of many of these sorts of films and nothing specific to I'm Still Here.
Regardless I'm Still Here is compelling drama and an important portrait of this kind of horror which continues to occur around the world.
I'm Still Here/Ainda Estou Aqui
Starring: Fernanda Torres, Selton Mello, Fernanda Montenegro
Director: Walter Salles
Writers: Murilo Hauser, Heitor Lorega
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