A film about a prominent family’s struggle to survive under Brazil’s dictatorship is evocative of the period, finds Orlando Hill

I’m still here (dir. Walter Salles) is set during the darkest period of Brazil’s contemporary history. In 1964, the military carried out a coup financed by Brazilian capitalists and backed by the USA. On 31 March, while Brazilian troops were marching towards Rio de Janeiro, a US navy fleet was on its way to give support in case of any sign of resistance. The fleet had at its disposal 25 C-135 and 110 tons of ammunition. This was named Operation Brother Sam.

It proved unnecessary. Two days after the coup, the US called back the fleet. No resistance had been organised. The dictatorship would last 21 years.

The Communist Party (PCB) was hegemonic on the left. However, its unpreparedness and faith in the reformist project shattered this hegemony. PCB lost members, including some important figures such as Carlos Marighella, who went on to found the Ação de Libertadora Nacional (ALN), which would play an important role in the democratic resistance.

The more radical sectors who had left the PCB managed to build a social movement in opposition to the dictatorship which culminated in the 100,000 march in Rio de Janeiro in 1968. The response of the Brazilian State was to issue the Institutional Act 5 (AI-5) setting up political persecution, daily censorship and torture. Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates that twenty thousand were tortured, of whom 434 were killed, and over five thousand politicians had their mandates revoked.

In 1969, the ALN and the Movimento Revolucionário 8 de Outubro (MR-8) kidnapped the American Ambassador Charles Burke Elbrick and exchanged him for fifteen political prisoners. It was a tactical success, but proved to be strategically disastrous for the armed resistance.

A family under the dictatorship

The government responded by tightening the screws. The military wanted revenge for the humiliation they had suffered. By the end of 1970, where I’m Still Here picks up, the resistance was isolated and in hiding.

The film depicts the story of congressman and engineer Ruben Paiva and his family. Paiva had his mandate revoked in 1964 and after a brief exile had returned to Brazil to dedicate himself to his family and career as an engineer. Fernanda Torres who plays his wife Eunice, has been rightly praised for her subtle and dignified performance.

The film is divided into four parts, each one illustrating a moment in the family and Brazil’s history. In the beginning, we see a typical upper-middle-class family in Leblon on the south side of Rio. This is a moment of innocence where there are glimpses of the dictatorship in the lonely helicopter flying above the sea, trucks packed with soldiers driving by the beach, and the kidnapping of the Swiss ambassador on the news on the TV. But life goes on, the gate is left unlocked, the five Paiva children carry on playing beach volleyball and the family dream of building a new house in the surrounding hills. Eunice and Ruben agree in sending their eldest daughter to London to keep her away from getting involved in student politics.

This innocence is smashed when undercover police arrive to escort Ruben Paiva to the station to answer some routine questions. He was never seen again. His involvement was helping activists escape into exile. He had no involvement in the armed struggle. Eunice stoically keeps the family together. The eldest daughter on her return from London is surprised that her mother doesn’t mention her father. She asks her mother if she is okay. To which her mother nods affirmatively. The oppression of the state is felt inside the family home. The phone is tapped and agents are watching outside their house.

The third part of the film is the family moving back to São Paulo and Eunice reinventing herself as a human-rights lawyer. In the last part, we see Eunice starting to lose her memory with the beginning of Alzheimer’s. In her attempt to preserve the memories, she writes on the back of the family photos, when and where they were taken. I left the cinema thinking it should be made into a TV series.

For me, who lived through the period, it was a walk down memory lane. The soundtrack is great. I would recommend downloading or streaming it. The use of super-eight film when recording family parties and outings adds to the 1970s atmosphere.

Although forty years have passed since the death of Ruben Paiva, the legacy of the dictatorship is still present. No torturer or those responsible for torture have been brought to justice. In Argentina, the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla died in prison. In Brazil, some of those responsible for the death of Ruben Paiva were promoted to the rank of general. The ex-president Bolsonaro admires the dictatorship. His followers have called for a return to it. That is why films like this are important.

I’m Still Here is out in cinemas now