13/38
My husband is in danger!
A mother is forced to reinvent herself when her family’s life is torn apart by an act of arbitrary violence during the grip of a military dictatorship in Brazil, 1971. Chosen by the Brazilian Film Academy to compete for Best International Film at the 2025 Oscars. Eunice Paiva: Martha, you have to help me. Martha: Everyone is in danger, Eunice. Appeared in Mais Você: Episode of December 3, 2024 (2024).
A Festa do Santo ReisWritten by Léo Maia (as Marcio Leonardo)Played by Tim Maia
Ainda Estou Aqui’s greatest strength lies in the use of memory not as a passive reminder of the past, but as an act of resistance to preserve the dignity and identity of those who have been brutally silenced. Walter Salles, revealing the faces, names and humanity of those whose lives were interrupted by the dictatorship, transforms memory into a manifesto for justice. At the beginning, we see Selton Mello in a sensitive and powerful performance, almost like a breath of tenderness before the storm. He brings to life a loving father, a man who soon becomes the epicenter of a pain that creeps into every corner of the house. What was once a bright house, full of laughter and ordinary days, is now shrouded in drawn curtains, with the constant presence of strangers and the watchful eyes of military officers.
Walter Salles transforms the absence of Rubens Paiva into an invisible character, as the family begins to live a routine suffocated by external fear
And it is Fernanda Torres who gives body and soul to this story; she embodies the living resistance, something that the dictatorship could never take away: the fierce drive of a woman to rebuild what has been destroyed, to keep alive the flame of a history that belongs to her. Eunice Paiva, faced with the loss of her husband, the invisible violence of silence, the systematic erasure of a life, finds strength in the ruins. Fernanda portrays her as a woman who, in her silent struggle, refuses to let horror prevail over memory, to let emptiness triumph over love. Eunice Paiva is a character who, at the same time, moves and disturbs, because as spectators, we remain alert, expecting dramatic outbursts, uncontrolled tears, grand gestures that melodrama has accustomed us to seeing – but Eunice’s pain does not manifest itself in this way. It is there, deeply buried, engraved in her soul, supported by a silent force that does not let it overflow, for the love of her children.
What Montenegro conveys in that moment, without a word, is masterful
It is a pain that exists without fanfare, that corrodes without screaming, and this moderation makes it even more devastating. The scene in which Fernanda eats ice cream with her daughters, trying to project a happiness that no longer exists, is magnificent. Towards the end of the film, when I was already destroyed, the epilogue gives us Fernanda Montenegro. The first movement of her eyes was enough to make me feel destroyed. She brings to the screen the strength of a woman who refuses to let the past dissipate, who keeps photos, clippings, dates and notes not only for herself, but to ensure that her memory survives any attempt at erasure, even the erosion of her own Alzheimer’s.
Nothing in Ainda Estou Aqui is incidental or superfluous
The 35mm photography is delicately “Walterian”, poetic but raw, managing to be aesthetic without stealing the scene. The absence of a dramatic soundtrack is a bold and effective choice, which relies on the drama already present, which pulsates in the pauses, in the glances and in the breaths. The sound design is punctuated by planes, gunshots and the distant roar of military vehicles, alluding to the constant horror and invisible control imposed by the dictatorship. The editing is precise, respecting the rhythm of pain without haste, and the sensitive and powerful script allows the actors to shine, letting pain and love resonate through dialogues of precise intensity.
بدون دیدگاه