On January 20 1971, Brazilian civil engineer and former congressman Rubens Paiva was arrested at his Rio de Janeiro home by officials of the country’s military dictatorship. His wife Eunice and 15-year-old daughter Eliana were also taken in for interrogation. They were released — Eunice after a full 12 days — but Rubens never returned home. It was only years later that Eunice — who studied to become a lawyer in her quest to establish the truth of her husband’s fate — learnt the facts around his death.
In 2014, the National Truth Commission confirmed that Rubens had been murdered by the regime. The following year, his story became more widely known when his son Marcelo Rubens Paiva, aged 10 when his father disappeared, wrote a memoir addressing the family’s ordeal.
Now a film based on that book and directed by Walter Salles, I’m Still Here, is set for international success. It has been nominated for three Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best International Feature Film and Best Actress for Fernanda Torres, who won Best Female Actor in a Film (Drama) at last month’s Golden Globes for her portrayal of Eunice. The film is already a massive success in Brazil, where it has attracted more than 3mn cinemagoers and sparked fresh debate on a painful chapter in the national history.