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Summary

The reviewer praises I’m Still Here for its patient, grounded storytelling. Unlike films with a fast, “music-video” style—rapid cuts, constant spectacle, and dialogue that rushes through the plot—the film takes an everyday-life perspective and moves at a measured pace.

The narrative gradually shifts from the Paiva family’s life before Rubens Paiva’s arrest, to uncertainty over whether he is alive, and finally to the loss of that hope. Though it runs for more than two hours, the film holds the reviewer’s attention.

The performances, especially Fernanda Torres’s, receive particular praise. The reviewer also wonders how closely the portrayal of Eunice Paiva reflects the historical person and how much creative freedom the director and actor used. The director is not named in the subtitles.

The discussion then turns to how films portray Brazil’s business-military dictatorship. The reviewer argues that cultural works often focus on prominent figures, political events, artists, students, or middle-class families, while giving less attention to working-class and poor communities. Zezé, the Paiva family’s domestic worker, is cited as a missed opportunity: the film shows little of her life beyond her work for the family, and her story disappears.

The reviewer calls for a broader public memory of the dictatorship—one that includes poverty, labor, racial oppression, Indigenous communities, police violence, and the experiences of people in favelas and other working-class neighborhoods. He also emphasizes the persistence of repressive institutions after the transition to democracy. In his view, the dictatorship’s memory should not be reduced to censorship, the persecution of artists, and the repression of political activists.

Despite these reservations, the reviewer strongly recommends the film and says he plans to watch it again.

Artistic Techniques and Ideas Discussed

• Measured pacing and everyday realism, contrasted with fast-cut, spectacle-driven filmmaking.
• Gradual narrative construction, using uncertainty and shifting hope to build emotional impact.
• Performance and characterization, particularly Fernanda Torres’s portrayal and the question of historical fidelity versus creative freedom.
• Representation and narrative perspective: whose lives are centered and whose experiences remain at the margins.
• Collective memory as a creative and political question, including how films can connect historical repression to broader social experiences.

Creators and Contributors Mentioned

• Jones Manoel — the video’s presenter and reviewer.
• Fernanda Torres — praised for her performance in I’m Still Here.
• Marcelo Rubens Paiva — author of the book discussed as a possible source for the film.
• Wagner Moura — mentioned in connection with Marighella and a proposed film about Paulo Freire.
• Patricia Pillar — mentioned as a performer in the film about Zuzu Angel.
• Caetano Veloso, Chico Buarque, and Gilberto Gil — musicians cited in the discussion of artists censored during the dictatorship.
• Caco Barcellos — journalist and author of Rota 66.
• Humberto Carrão — actor in the Rota 66 series.
• Angélica Lovatto — scholar whose doctoral research on the Cadernos do Povo Brasileiro is mentioned.
• Álvaro Vieira Pinto — author of Por que os ricos não fazem greve?
• Clóvis Moura — author of Raízes do protesto negro.