I'm Still Here

Verdict

A devastating, intimate political drama that turns a family’s private grief into a clear-eyed portrait of state violence and endurance. It’s especially powerful in its first half’s warmth, which makes the rupture hit even harder, and in Fernanda Torres’ quietly monumental lead performance.

Best for

• Viewers who want emotionally devastating historical drama
• Fans of family-centered political cinema
• Audiences interested in Latin American history and dictatorship-era stories
• Viewers who appreciate restrained, performance-driven filmmaking

Skip if

• You want a fast-paced thriller or action-heavy political story
• You prefer lighter, more cathartic dramas
• You’re looking for a highly stylized or experimental approach
• You’re sensitive to stories about disappearance, repression, and grief

Overview

Walter Salles makes the personal feel historical without ever losing sight of the family at the center of the story. The film’s early scenes are full of warmth, routine, and domestic texture, which gives the later absence a brutal emotional force. It understands that the most devastating part of political terror is often not spectacle, but uncertainty.

Worth noting

Fernanda Torres gives the film its spine with a performance that is controlled, humane, and deeply moving. The movie is strongest when it observes how a household changes shape under pressure, and how resilience can look like paperwork, patience, and stubborn dignity. The production design and spatial storytelling also do a lot of quiet work, mapping loss through the changing feel of the home.

Bottom line

This is not an easy watch, but it is a necessary one. It lands as both a memorial and a warning, connecting one family’s trauma to a larger history of authoritarian violence. The result is emotionally punishing in the best possible way: compassionate, enraging, and unforgettable.

Top Letterboxd reviews

Isabella Areal (5★) · 12739 likes

de todas as dores que existem, penso que a do não saber é a pior. não saber se vai voltar, não saber pra onde foi, não saber o que aconteceu e, por fim, não saber que aquela seria a última vez que o veriam. que angústia, que tristeza, que injustiça. experimentei como se fosse comigo. o aperto no coração e na garganta. Ditadura NUNCA mais.

zoë rose bryant (4.5★) · 11252 likes

what a fucking gut punch of a film. despite not knowing much about the military dictatorship in brazil ahead of time - if anything - i still immediately fell head over heels for this family and found myself instantly immersed in their tenderly depicted dynamic, so compassionately captured in that first (nearly) tension-free half hour. and it’s these first 30 minutes of unadulterated joy and frivolity that make the rest of the movie as mightily emotionally affecting as it ultimately

Niva (4★) · 8674 likes

fernanda torres já fez tanto por você. prestigie no cinema a melhor atuação da vida dela. ela merece

Thiago Guimarães (3★) · 6582 likes

DISCUSSAO MAIS ELABORADA NO VÍDEO: youtu.be/tutZaBgUDIs - Não dá pra negar o trabalho impecável de encenação aqui. é impressionante como parece que são duas casas completamente diferentes, uma antes e outra depois da prisão de Rubens. quem assiste tem uma percepção espacial muito precisa dessa casa, onde fica cada cômodo, quais momentos aconteceram em cada lugar. sou muito fascinado por filmes que constroem esse senso espacial. chamou minha atenção que muito da história é contado através de portas, fechadas ou

Marcela Montellato (5★) · 5902 likes

VIVA O CINEMA NACIONAL PORRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Themes

dictatorship, state violence, family resilience, grief and disappearance, political repression, memory and testimony, motherhood, historical trauma

Topics

historical drama, political repression, family tragedy, authoritarianism, emotional gut punch, Latin American cinema, period piece, grief, memory, performance-driven