(A really long text) Yes, there are Brazilians who HATE "I'm still here"...

SPOILER ALERT (Not that I think it will ruin the experience of watching the movie, I think it just adds to it)

(Don't worry, mod, this is not a post about the recent controversy with Karla)

Apart from the recent controversies in the Oscar race, those who are from outside Brazil may be surprised, when they land in Brazil and take an Uber, that "I'm still here" is not necessarily a unanimous choice among Brazilians, especially since the movie's fan club is so passionate on social media.

The reasons for this are closer to the realm of politics and history than to cinema.

To explain a little:

A - The civil-military dictatorship of 1964 lasted until 1985 and was installed in a coup d'état against President João Goulart (Jango) with the support of the USA.

Goulart, despite being a landowner, was accused by the opposition of being a communist and measures such as the promise of agrarian reform, capital control, non-aligned diplomacy and the amnesty of rebellious sailors put him on a collision course with the interests of the country's military and economic elite and also of the USA.

B - Rubens Paiva, the husband of Eunice Paiva portrayed in the film, a congressman for the PTB (Jango's party) had his mandate revoked by the first Institutional Act (decrees issued by the military with powers beyond even those of the Constitution).

C - The Brazilian military dictatorship did not have, as in Chile and Argentina, trials of the people who promoted it: an amnesty law made by the military regime itself prevented this possibility and was never revised.

The subject is much less debated than it should be and the names of members of the regime such as Filinto Muler, Fleury and Médici still give their names to schools, streets, hospitals and squares.

According to the Brazilian financial news portal Infomoney, the Brazilian Supreme Court is expected to decide soon whether the much-talked-about Amnesty Law applies to those accused of the murder of Rubens Paiva, which could perhaps set a precedent for other decisions of the same type.

There is still anticipation about the trials of the failed coup attempt organized by high-ranking armed forces officers in the recent coup attempt on January 8, 2023.

D - Although many Brazilians are well aware of the terror and perverse corruption of values ​​that was the 1964 dictatorship, many (especially those who were very young at the time or completely unaware of politics) have fond memories of the period, something like a great "first part of the movie".

As a dictatorial regime cannot be sustained by repression alone, in addition to the regime's enormous propaganda machine (which included the use of the Brazilian soccer team and even national cinema, let's say, more adult) the regime promoted great works, such as Itaipu hydroelectric plant and the Rio-Niterói bridge, and promoted agrarian reform in its own way (deforesting the Amazon and the Cerrado in short).

E - Many of those persecuted and opposed to the military regime also entered politics and the arts after the end of the regime.

With their very clear differences, parties that have alternated in power, such as the PT, PSDB and PMDB, have in their ranks many of those who fought for the redemocratization of the country from the 1960s to the 1980s.

The legacy of these governments is debatable and the reputation has been created in Brazil that "Brazilian democracy is a joke".

F - Jair Bolsonaro, former president of Brazil, was elected president in 2018, with the support of Trump and Bannon and against "everything that is going on". Bolsonaro, an army captain, was involved in a terrorist plan to toughen the military regime at the end of that period and, when he voted for the impeachment of former president Dilma Rousseff, he paid tribute to Carlos Alberto Brilhante Ustra, one of the most cruel torturers of the 1964 regime.

G - Bolsonaro has a slightly more personal history with the Paiva family: he and his family are from the same city as Rubens Paiva's father (Eldorado Paulista, in the interior of São Paulo).

Bolsonaro falsely accuses the Paiva family of having provided cover to the VPR (far-left revolutionary guerrilla group) that was fighting the government. It is also reported that Bolsonaro spat on Paiva's bust at a ceremony in the Brazilian Congress.

H - Bolsonaro and his followers (known in Brazil as "the minions") consider the Brazilian military dictatorship to be a "golden age" for Brazil, of great economic growth and national pride, which, according to them, was falsified by subsequent democratic governments.

I - The Bolsonaro propaganda machine is still going strong and is perhaps one of the most successful in recent history, including clashes between META and Xwitter with the Brazilian Supreme Court.

J - Among the conspiracy theories they propagate is that Brazilian artists are rich because of the use of the enormous fund of the Rouanet Law (a tax waiver mechanism for artistic and historical heritage projects).

According to them, films like Ainda Estou Aqui steal money from health and education for expensive productions that "are of no interest to Brazilians."

K - Ainda Estou Aqui did not use anything from the Rouanet Law, including because feature films are not covered by the law. Walter Salles, the film's director, is simply one of the richest men in Latin America.

L - Globo, one of the companies involved in the production of the film, is one of the largest media networks in the world. During the dictatorship, it supported the military regime but in recent years it has positioned itself relatively progressively in terms of diversity. Yet another reason for conservatives here to hate the film.

Given all this, don't be surprised if you find Brazilians who have very strong opinions against the film.

Don't be surprised if the film suddenly starts to receive a very strong negative campaign against it, given that the Bolsonaro family is very close to influential figures on the far right in the US, such as the aforementioned Steve Bannon.