By Isabel Teles and Janaina Quinet
SAO PAULO (Reuters) – 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 movie 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 movie, 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.
After the interview with Reuters on Friday, videos surfaced on social media showing Torres performing in a 2008 comedy sketch with a blackened face to mimic a Black person. In a written statement on Monday, she said she “deeply regretted” it.
“It is now very clear, in our country and around the world, that the use of blackface is unacceptable,” she said.
PAIVA’S STORY RESONATES
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.
“We are in a very tight spot, so it’s natural that in moments of fear in the world, like the one we lived through, there is the idea that an authoritarian government will solve our situation,” she said.
A police investigation revealed in November that a coup plot to overturn the outcome of Brazil’s 2022 presidential election had the participation of former right-wing President Jair Bolsonaro, as well as military officers.
The movie 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.”
It is rare for movies made in Brazil, the sole Portuguese-speaking country in Latin America, to capture global audiences, Torres said.
“We consume our own culture intensely,” she said. “But we exist inwardly.”
Torres believes international visibility and recognition for “I’m Still Here” could help Brazilian productions attract investment.
In 1999, “I’m Still Here” director Walter Salles had another movie, “Central Station,” shine in the Oscars. The film was nominated for Best International Feature, while Fernanda Montenegro, who played its protagonist, was in the running for Best Actress. Neither won the Academy Award.
Montenegro is Torres’ mother and plays an older Eunice Paiva in “I’m Still Here.”
“I’m Still Here” has been selected for over 40 international festivals and has accumulated top prizes such as the Best Screenplay award in the Venice Film Festival and a Golden Globe for Torres.
On social media, Brazilian fans are cheering loudly for Torres to win the prize her now 95-year-old mother did not receive. But Torres said the Best Actress award is hard to win, and has not written an acceptance speech.
She has taken lessons from Montenegro’s experience 26 years ago, which helped her prepare for the movie’s intense campaign and dozens of interviews, including an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” this month.
“When she made ‘Central Station’, she had no idea. She said ‘I made a small Brazilian film and suddenly I was dragged into the world and I hadn’t prepared myself, I didn’t know what it was,'” Torres recalls her mother telling her.
Once award season is over, Torres has no plans to focus on a more international career. “Look, I’m a 59-year-old with an accent, right? So, I’m realistic,” she said jokingly.
In a different time in her life, she might have considered moving abroad to work. But not now. Her feet, she added, are “firmly planted in Brazil.”
(Reporting by Isabel Teles and Janaina Quinet; Editing by Rod Nickel)
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