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.

I am aware of the fact that Brazilian movies are not famous as the American ones,but I agree that Olga should be nominated for an Oscar, and deserves to be watched. Olga was made with a great production by the Brazilians standards, and is a beautiful and sensitive movie, showing the history of this brave Jewish and communist woman called Olga Benario.

Camila Morgado and Fernanda Montenegro are two of my favorite Brazilian actresses,and are great too in their roles. (Camila as Olga deserves applause).

The movie shows Olga's path, since she was a rich teenager to her final moments, in a concentration camp.

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.

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

One of the most cheesy movies I've ever seen. A fantastic story that was wasted in a completely tacky film, mushy and extremely loaded. I regret that we wasted a chance to do a remarkable film of a moment so important and so unique in the history of our country, involving such amazing characters as were Luis Carlos Prestes and Olga Benário. Unfortunately the choice of director and cast followed the novel patterns are printed it too hard in the film. The use of soundtrack is a separate chapter. It is always over the top, trying to push hard emotion, taking any subtlety that may exist in the interpretations of the cast. This makes it impossible to actually get emotional as before some important dialogue begin the violin is already playing deafeningly. A big waste.