I’m Still Here is an intimate, subtle film about the emotional toll parents absorb on behalf of their children—especially in times of danger and violence. Fernanda Torres’ performance as Eunice, the wife of a former congressman murdered by Brazil’s military dictatorship, is the best I’ve seen this year. It’s a performance that combines passion with restraint: when the news of her character’s husband’s death inevitably arrives, she doesn’t fall into hysterics; after all, the kids are right around the corner. And when she announces that the family must move to Sao Paulo—a signal to the older children that their father may never come home—she continues with a heroic, “Pass the salt.” Sheltering her kids from horrible realities, though, has its price: later scenes reveal that, while they’ve grown up to be successful and well-adjusted, Eunice will never move past her husband’s disappearance—that it was, tragically, the central event of her life. People are not replaceable; families are not rebuildable. It’s apolitical messages like these that often make the most powerful political statements—in this case, a timely reminder to oppose those who would devalue human life from perches of leadership.
–Jim Andersen