Olga

I saw "Olga" at a local Jewish film festival. It is a confusing film containing several mistakes. It was never made clear that Olga was a Munich-born German (Olga Gutmann Benario) whose father was of Jewish decent, but her mother was not. Olga moved from Munich to Berlin in 1925 at age 17. The biggest mistake of the filmmaker was to report that she was killed in Theresienstadt, she died in Bernburg. That the movie is in Portuguese doesn't help either. The story is too long-winded and some scenes are moving too slow. I couldn't get emotionally involved in the story and felt detached from Olga's plight even though the director tried but failed to show her tragic life in a way Spielberg would have done it. I had high expectations when I read about this movie, but was pretty disappointed. At least, the acting was good. It would probably better to read about Olga than to see this movie.

Olga (movie) is about the life of Olga Benário and her husband Luís Carlos Prestes (the biggest communist leader in Brazil). But the movie isn't only about politics. It's about politics, war, persecution, revolutionary spirit, injustice, and of course, love. The movie shows the life of Olga, and the failure of the communist revolution in Brazil, by the perspective of the revolutionary couple.

Excellent acting by Camila Morgado (Olga) and the great Fernanda Montenegro (Prestes mother). Weak acting by Caco Ciocler (Prestes).

This was an very good movie, but it could be more about the revolution than the romance between the couple, this makes the movie too dramatic sometimes.

For his first movie, Monjardim did an excellent job, but he also must learn a little bit more about the movies world. Some scenes in the movie looks like a TV series.

We can't forgot that this is a real history, that all (or almost all) that the movie shows was real. I had almost cried several times. If you will see in the cinema, don't forget a tissue. Overall, it's a great movie

Olga - rate 9/10

Everybody has seen many American and European films about the World War II and the terrors Hitler made to the Jews. Most of these movies are great, and many of them are really big success in the Oscar ceremony. Some other countries out of this Europe-USA pool have also made good things about the theme and Brazil has finally made its try, a really good job. "Olga" is based on "Olga Benário", a book written by Fernando Morais about the German woman who fought for Communism in Russia and in Brazil, where she lived with Luis Carlos Prestes, a man who tried to take Communism to power through a revolution.

The film shows basically their love story and the hard life Olga had in prison, but the historical content is not left out. Actually, it's an important fact in "Olga".

The actors and actresses are not known outside Brazil, but it's not a reason to forget this movie. I really think people all over the world should take some time to watch it. The direction is well done and production is huge.

My rate 9/10

I've waited a lot for this movie and I was not satisfied. Too much money and talk about a movie that were nothing sounds natural or moving at all. The snow/winter scenes were among the worst, because just the artificial snow and clothes do not make a situation looks like it's very cold. Monjardin (the director) is very goo making TV series and soap operas, but he should adapt his talent to tell a story in a movie way. Olga looks like a movie made of cut scenes from a TV series. Caco Ciocler was not convincing as Prestes, he doesn't pass the impression that he would be able to inspire a march of 25 thousands km. Fernanda Montenegro was the best chose, she was wonderful as Leocádia Prestes. Camila Morgado is an excellent actress but the necessity of the creation of a love story and the obsession of showing that love and maternity made Olga a real woman, was a waste of time.

Olga was one of the most anticipated movies in history of Brazilian cinema. The images of the production was showed drop-to-drop, to rise the hype that surrounded this movie. The trailer was fantastic. With a brilliant cinematography and a beauty melancholic soundtrack. But now, when the movie finally arises in theaters... What can i tell you? Well, this movie REALLY couldn't fulfill the expectations that have created.

There are very reasons that makes Olga an ordinary movie. And the mainly is the direction. Jayme Monjardim (a traditional TV director in Brasil) had their debutance in cinema with this work. The problem is that Olga, has sequences and visual very near of the TV works of the director. The movie doesn't have rhythm and feeling of a real movie. It looks like a TV series showed on a great screen. The movie is very boring, the edition is poor and don't give the rhythm that a movie like that needs. The plot is very dramatic but sound like a journal romance. At least the cinematography is great in the most part of the movie and the art-direction makes a great job to create a cold Germany in the very tropical Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

If you really don't know the Brazilian cinema, this is not a movie that represents the talented Brazilian directors. A movie without rhythm, descent plot and straight direction, but with a great visual. Go see "City of God", "Redentor" and "The man who copied" if want to know why Brazilian cinema is rockin around the world.

6/10