Director Walter Salles revives the ghost of Brazil’s military dictatorship with “I’m Still Here”, a tribute to the crusading wife of Rubens Paiva, an engineer and politician who disappeared in 1971. The film premiering Sunday by the director of 2004’s “Motorcycle Diaries” and “On the Road” from 2012 is one of 21 in competition for the top Golden Lion prize at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. “I’m Still Here” is based on the 2015 book of the same title by well-known Brazilian writer Marcelo Rubens Paiva, whose father was a left-wing deputy until he went into exile after the rise of the military in Brazil.

After returning to his country, the elder Paiva resumed his career as an engineer, without abandoning his contacts with the underground. When the situation worsened in Brazil, with attacks and kidnappings by far-left groups opposed to the dictatorship, and a bitter repression by the military, Paiva was arrested in January 1971 and was never seen again.

His wife, Eunice, was also detained along with one of their daughters and spent twelve days being interrogated before being released. Played by Fernanda Torres in the film, Eunice never gives up in the search for her husband, even as she seeks to shield her five children from the realities of the political situation - and the fate of their father for as long as she can.

“Eunice’s story blended with the story of Brazil during the very horrible years that we lived, 21 years,” Salles told a press conference Sunday ahead of the film’s premiere. “It was an extraordinary story of family enduring an act of violence, and a woman really finding herself in the middle of it,” he said. Through tireless efforts, Eunice was finally able to obtain her husband’s official death certificate, 25 years after his disappearance.

Resurgence of far right

The younger Rubens Paiva, who is also a well-known columnist, said that when his mother years later became ill with Alzheimers, he felt compelled to write about her. “It was very important to write this book at that time because as you see all over the world democracy is at risk,” he added.

Salles called film “a great instrument against oblivion.” Work on the film started even before Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, came into power in 2019, ruling until last year. “I never thought that my generation... would see the resurgence of the extreme right,” said Salles. “It’s so vivid now.” “I feel the anguish of the times we live in.” — AFP