“Stay Here” — the Oscar-nominated film about the assassination of a Brazilian Congressman by the nation’s military dictatorship — concludes with a sentence that delivers a gut punch of historical reality: The five soldiers charged in the killing were never punished due to laws granting them amnesty. Now the film could help change that.

This month, Brazil’s Supreme Court unanimously agreed to examine whether the amnesty of the army officers accused of killing the Congressman, Rubens Paiva, and two others should be revoked. A decision was made in December by one judge to recommend removing the amnesty protections in a separate case from the dictatorship era. In the judgment, the jurist specifically mentioned “Stay Here.”

The sudden and extraordinary judicial assessment provoked by the film could have wide-ranging legal implications: Will Brazil’s amnesty law continue to shield those who committed atrocities during the dictatorship?

The fact that this question is now being asked proves the significant political impact of “Stay Here” — aside from its remarkable commercial and critical success. Since the release of the film in November, authorities have revised the death certificates of the victims to make it clear that they died at the hands of the military, and to reopen cold cases to investigate potential ties to the military regime.

“The film has been instrumental in making society — especially young people — reflect on the kind of country they want,” says Marcelo Rubens Paiva, the son of Congressman Rubens Paiva. The personal tale of one family’s ordeal at the hands of the dictatorship has largely succeeded in uniting Brazilians around the common notion of justice.

“But how did it take so long?” Paiva adds, concerned that justice may be coming too late.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/28/world/americas/brazil-oscars-dictatorship-justice.html