However, as Brazil is working on the fallout of a modern coup attempt, we discovered that the film resonates with the past just as it is now.
Last month, President Lula celebrated the second anniversary of the riots at three Powers Plazas in Brasilia. There, protesters hoped to trigger another military uprising.
Thousands of former President Jea Bolsonaro’s supporters descended on the Plaza on January 8, 2023, just a week after Lula took office in his third non-continued term.
There, the mob looted the Supreme Court, the National Congress building, and the Presidential Palace in Brasilia, and clashed with security guards. Police say the violence was part of a multifaceted attempt to drive Lula out and bring Bolsonaro back to power.
Lucas Figueiredo, a journalist and author of several books on dictatorship, believes that a lack of awareness about the past has enabled many Brazilians to romanticize the era of military rule.
“To this day, we believe the military has the right to attempt a coup in the 21st century, which is sufficient evidence that no memory has been built for these events,” Figueiredo said.
Former Army Captain Bolsonaro publicly defended the military dictatorship, and during that period he expressed nostalgia.
During his presidency from 2019 to 2022, he obstructed the amnesty committee and the special committee on political deaths and falls.
When asked about the film I’m still here, Bolsonaro told a Bloomberg reporter, “I’m not going to waste my time.”
Figueiredo believes that the fact that no officials were punished for their role in military dictatorships has fueled modern chaos.
“This created the dynamics of disclaimer who prefers attitudes that we saw on January 8th,” Figueiredo said.
However, Marcia Carneiro, who teaches history at Fluminense Federal University, observed that the sense of immunity may be waning given the push to hold Bolsonaro and his allies accountable.
On February 18, Paulo Gonette, the top Brazilian prosecutor, filed accusations against Bolsonaro and 33 others, accusing him of conspiring to overthrow the government. Bolsonaro could face decades in prison if convicted.
“A new realization is emerging that people who act against the rule of law will be punished. This is interesting and new in Brazil,” Carneiro said.
If Bolsonaro had been in power, Carneiro believes that the film I’m still here could have even been met with protests and attacks.
She noted that under Bolsonaro in 2019, protesters launched Molotov cocktails at the headquarters of comedy group Porta Dos Fundos, in the wake of a brief Christmas film on Netflix portraying Jesus as gay.
But even film politics may have blunted some of the right-wing criticism. I still focus intimately on the power of my family here, sketching the idyllic family life destroyed by violence.
Experts say that focusing on family dynamics around politics has made it appealing to a wider audience.
“Everyone has a family (mother, father) and seeing them suffer is affected. Viewers are aware that this may be happening at home,” Carneiro explained.
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