I finally saw Walter Salles‘ I’m Still Here two days ago in Ojai. It’s obviously an absorbing, very well-crafted, fact-based poltical drama, and yes, Fernanda Torres carries the whole thing on her shoulders. Superb actress. Fully deserving of her Best Actress nomination.

But as good as it basically is and as much as Salles is a masterful filmmakr, I’m Still Here — a film about South American political terror — is not as gripping or unnerving as Costa-Gavras‘ Missing (’82) or Luis Puenzo‘s The Official Story (’85).

Within the realm of anti-left, military-dictatorship South American films about leftist victimization, it doesn’t stick to your ribs quite as much. It’s certainly less haunting.

This is because I’m Still Here‘s focus is much more on treading the emotional family waters…the anguished struggles of Eunice Paiva, the real-life mom (played by Torres), and her five kids as they attempt to cope with the sudden absence of their dad, Rubens Paiva. The film is much more committed to this side of things than on the creepy, ominous particulars of her husband’s absence (which we all know is due to his murder).

I had a problem with one aspect, however — an aspect that infuriated me more and more. What bothered me was how Torres’ Eunice constantly hides the horrifying indications about what may be going on from the kids, and in some cases flat-out lies to them. At the two-thirds mark one of her daughters, the one who’s been living in London, calls her out on this.

Eunice’s kids are very smart and exceptionally mature, and yet in the initial stages of her husband’s disappearance she treats them like emotionally retarded simpletons who can’t be trusted with the facts, and so I became angrier and angrier with her.

Always level with your kids, and never blow smoke up their asses…ever.

Interesting sidenote: Eunice Paiva was around 50 when her husband was taken by government agents, never to be seen again. The film shows many photos of how Eunice looked in 1970 and in the years that followed, and the fact is that she was much more attractive than Fernanda Torres, who has the honest, fascinating face of a formidable stage actress and an apparent inner life that you can’t help believing and investing in, but who is also, truth be told, a bit homely looking. I’m just being honest — what do you want me to do, lie?