150 Word Review: 'I'm Still Here' (2024)
Someday soon
The Rio of the Portuguese-language movie I'm Still Here is a city of sunny beaches filled with laughter and dark interrogation rooms where innocent people are tortured. Based on a true story, this intense political drama introduces us to a happy family of seven set in the early 1970s during Brazil's 21-year-long military dictatorship.
The children are blissfully unaware of the horrors being committed all around them; they play volleyball as military helicopters fly overhead, some of them carrying the bodies of Brazilians murdered for their beliefs.
Fernanda Torres is magnificent as a mother who protects her brood during a nightmare and deserved to win the Oscar she was nominated for.
I'm Still Here balances a thriller's tension with real heartbreak. Director Walter Salles and screenwriters Murilo Hauser and Heitor Lorega never lecture, but their message resonates: Authoritarians want a compliant society that fears knocks on the door at night.
It's on my list.