Royal character who earned Fernanda Torres the Oscar nomination for best actress, lawyer and activist Eunice Paiva (1929-2018) has already been lived by other artists in cinema and theater. The protagonist of the film I'm still here has been represented in at least two other works.
Eunice Paiva was the widow of Deputy Rubens Paiva (1929-1971), kidnapped, tortured and killed in the military dictatorship. It became a symbol of the fight against the regime in Brazil, working on the rights of the political missing family of the period and also acting for the indigenous cause.
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The movie I'm still here, directed by Walter Salles, is based on the book of the same name released in 2015 by Marcelo Rubens Paiva, son of Eunice. The writer's debut novel, the also Autobiographical Happy Year old year, published in 1982, yielded adaptations in theater and cinema.
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In a happy year old year, the author tells the context of the episode that made him quadriplegic by diving into a lagoon at the age of 20. In the autobiography, which became a bestseller in the 1980s, Marcelo also addresses the family's trajectory until that time and the relationship with Eunice after the accident.
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The story was taken to the stage, and the role of the protagonist's mother was up to Denise del Vecchio. The actress gave an interview to the column of Monica Bergamo, from Folha de S.Paulo, published on Sunday (26), in which he spoke about the experience and contact she had with Eunice at the time of the play.
-“Eunice was very, very kind. He took me to her room, where he had a dressing table. He opened the drawer, showed us pictures of her and Rubens. And he told (…) how he was a fun man. She never regretted, never, never. One of the photos was of the two sitting in a caruagenzinha and the doves on them, a beautiful photo made on a trip to Europe. She then told me something I never forget, 'After I lost Rubens, Europe has lost its fun to me.'
Denise del Vecchio to Folha de S.Paulo
The show, with text adapted from Alcides Nogueira and directed by Paulo Betti, was a success of audiences and critics and gained reassembly. In the 1980s, the role of Marcelo Rubens Paiva stayed with Marcos Frota. In the 2000s, Claudio Fontana played the protagonist.
Happy old year also became a movie in 1987, directed by Roberto Gervitz. In the feature, the characters were portrayed with other names. Marcelo became Mario, played by Marcos Breda. Eunice became Lucia, the role of Eva Wilma (1933-2021).
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1987 production is not available on any streaming platform today. It shows the accident suffered by Marcelo and also the writer's participation in protests against the dictatorship. Excerpts from the movie available on the internet also bring the approach to the writer's mother's political struggle.
“What seemed absurd became a fact. My husband was not what we might call guerrilla. It seems that it is enough to believe in democracy, to fight for democracy, to be considered a subversive. In the name of fighting terrorism, the terror was established. I speak of the long coexistence with death and fear. Involved in this fear, we mobilize. ”
Speaks of Lucia (Eva Wilma), equivalent to Eunice Paiva, in the movie Happy Year old, 1987
