The disappearance of people believed to be dissidents in Argentina in the late 1970's and early 1980's was well known to those of us who live in North America, albeit after the facts. There are still people protesting that part of their history in Buenos Aires to this day. The fact that is happened in Brazil as well was not known to me. The film I'm Still Here details the mostly true story of a high profile Brazilian who was killed by the government and his wife went to great lengths to prove that.
This one is a little different. Set in 1977 Brazil, roughly at the midpoint of a 21-year military dictatorship, this is a drama, a satire, an intriguingly laid-back espionage film, and a recreation of a time and place, with expressionistic and surreal flourishes that must be accepted on their own terms. Wagner Moura stars as Marcelo, a tall, bearded fellow with gentle energy and sad eyes. He arrives in Recife, the state capital of Pernambuco, Brazil, in a bright yellow Volkswagen Beetle. We don’t know why he’s come to Recife. We won’t know for a long time. You have to pick up on subtext in order to understand certain conversations. Marcelo and the other characters in his orbit try to avoid saying exactly what they mean, because someone might be listening. There is a casualness to the killing that I think is probably a true capture of what happened, and is what we are experiencing in 2026 in the United States with ICE, where people are being dissapeared without warrents, cause, trial, or due process. It can happen antwhere and at any time.
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