Sawt Falasteen - 'I'm Still Here': Brazil faces past ghosts with Oscar triumph

The movie from Walter Salles -- based on a true story -- also earned Fernanda Torres a best actress nomination for her role as Eunice Paiva, the resilient wife of a leftist politician who disappeared during the 1964-1985 dictatorship.

"This goes to a woman who, after a loss suffered during an authoritarian regime, decided not to bend and to resist. So this prize goes to her. Her name is Eunice Paiva," Salles told the audience in accepting the award.

The global success of "I'm Still Here" -- nominated for three Oscars and many other international awards -- sparked a national fervor usually reserved for Carnaval or the football World Cup.

The film, which drew more than four million viewers into Brazilian cinemas, won best screenplay at the Venice Film Festival, and Torres triumphed over major Hollywood stars to win a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama.

"I'm Still Here" is based on the true story of Rubens Paiva, a former lawmaker kidnapped by agents of the military regime in Rio de Janeiro in 1971.

Eunice, who finds herself alone with five children and the mystery of what happened to her husband, decides to reinvent herself and spends decades fighting to know his fate.

As a result of her efforts, the Brazilian government issued a death certificate for Rubens in 1996.

As the film grew in popularity, the Supreme Court decided to reopen the case of his disappearance.

Salles is also known for Che Guevara biopic "The Motorcycle Diaries" and "Central Station," which was nominated for two Oscars.

In a strange coincidence, one of those two nominations was for best actress for Torres' mother Fernanda Montenegro -- the only other Brazilian to get a nod in the category.

Montenegro, 95, appears at the end of "I'm Still Here" as an older Eunice Paiva.

- 'Important reflection' -

The movie has fueled debate about an amnesty law adopted in 1979, which prevented anyone from being punished for more than 400 deaths and disappearances during the dictatorship.

"When we started the project in 2016, we thought it was an opportunity to look back and understand where we come from," Salles said in a recent interview with AFP.

"But given the rise of the far right in Brazil, starting in 2017, we realized that this film would also help us understand the present."

His comments referred to the divisive and turbulent rule of former president Jair Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain who openly admires the military regime.

In February, Bolsonaro was charged with attempting a coup bid after losing 2022 elections to President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.

"This film calls for important reflection, it touches the hearts of people from all sides. All the people who watch this film say to themselves: 'This is not good, this family should not be persecuted'," Torres told AFP.

The title of the movie even inspired a speech by Lula in January as he marked two years since Bolsonaro supporters ransacked government buildings in the capital, demanding the military intervene to stop the leftist from taking power.

"If we are still here, it is because democracy has won," Lula said.

Critics have remained relatively quiet, although some Bolsonaro supporters called on social media for a boycott of the movie.

Meanwhile, the national enthusiasm around "I'm Still Here" has led fans to visit the house where the movie was filmed in Rio de Janeiro and the grave of Eunice Paiva in Sao Paulo, where she was laid to rest in 2018.

H.Nasr--SF-PST