I'm Still Here' shows Brazil's painful past

The role of a mother who rebuilds her life after her husband goes missing during Brazil's military regime in the 1970s, portrayed in I'm Still Here, earned actor Fernanda Torres her first Academy Awards nomination. But she says winning the Best Actress award is not her priority.

What the Brazilian actor would like to see happen in the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles on March 2 is for the film itself, which portrays the true story of former politician Rubens Paiva and his wife Eunice, to win. I'm Still Here has been nominated for Best International Feature and for Best Picture, a first for a Brazilian movie fully spoken in Portuguese.

"The Paiva family deserves it, and Eunice Paiva deserves it," she told Reuters in an interview on Friday, one day after her nomination, adding that a prize in the international category "is already great."

The film, which tells the story of Eunice Paiva's struggle to uncover the truth about her husband's forced disappearance in 1971, "fulfilled a civic duty" of showing people what it means to live under an authoritarian regime, Torres, 59, said.

"When you read in a history book, 'civil rights were suspended,' that's just a sentence. But in the film, this means that they can enter your house, take your father, then take your mother, your sister, leave you all alone," she said.

Torres believes that Eunice Paiva's story resonated strongly outside Brazil because, at its core, it is about a family in pain, which evoked empathy from audiences. The way the protagonist conducted herself serves as an inspiration, she added, on a personal and political level.

The film got Brazilians talking about Eunice Paiva, and revealed to them "the power of this woman, who remained calm, who bet on time, who trusted justice," Torres said. "Eunice is almost a guide for periods of crisis." REUTERS