Walter Salles, the Oscar-winning director of Central Station and the Motorcycle Diaries, returns with his finest work in many years; I’m Still Here focuses on the true-life story of Eunice Paiva (Fernanda Torres), whose terrifying experience under Brazil’s military dictatorship of the 1970s transformed her into a renowned activist for human rights. Based on the memoir of her son, Marcelo Rubéns Paiva, Salles’ engrossing film depicts the Paiva household in Rio de Janeiro as warm and jovial, that is until patriarch Rubéns (Selton Mello), a former congressman, is abruptly taken away for questioning. Investigators soon come for Eunice, holding her for twelve days in a windowless prison as they try to force her to incriminate her friends. A powerfully moving story of resilience in the face of oppression, I’m Still Here is a masterful return for one of Brazil’s finest filmmakers.

Notes by David O Mahony