Last weekend Alejandro and I saw the Brazilian movie "I'm Still Here" ("Aún Estoy Aquí" in Spanish, "Ainda Estou Aqui" in Portuguese). The movie won numerous awards including an Oscar for Best International Feature Film. The movie was shown in its original Portuguese with Spanish subtitles.
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The film is based on the true story of Rubens Paiva, a politician who opposed the military coup d'état in 1964. The dictatorship removed him from his office as congressman, and he returned to his career as a civil engineer. However, he secretly continued to assist political exiles. In 1971 he was arrested by police and disappeared. It was 25 years later that the Brazilian government, once again a democracy, issued a death certificate for Paiva. He had been murdered at the headquarters of the intelligence agency.
The movie centers around Ruben's wife Eunice. She was also arrested and spent 12 days in prison where she was interrogated and tortured. After she is released, her goal was to hold the family together and to discover what happened to her husband.
The film is gripping and is certainly deserving of its Oscar win. Actress Fernanda Torres who played Eunice is superb. She won a Golden Globe for best actress in a drama, and received an Oscar nomination.
It should be noted that the U.S. government supported the military dictatorship and the CIA aided the dictatorship's terror campaign against dissidents.
