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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Very Dramatic! Very Good!, 24 August 2004
10/10
Author: Henrique from Curitiba, Brazil

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

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10 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Brazil is on the way to the top, 4 September 2004
Author: Emerenciano from Campina Grande, Brazil

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The film shows basically their love story and the hard life Olga had in prison, but the historical content is not left out.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

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7 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
well made Brazilian movie, 15 August 2005
8/10
Author: Jessica Kolk from Brazil

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.

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7 out of 12 people found the following comment useful :-
A Brazilian Super-Production That Deserves Nominations to the Oscar, 29 October 2004
10/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Minor Spoilers (the screenplay is based on a historic event)

In the 30's, the German Jew Olga Benário (Camila Morgado) leaves her bourgeois family and becomes a revolutionary, with army training in the Soviet Union. In 1935, she is assigned to protect the Brazilian communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes (Caco Ciocler), who is returning to Brazil to raise a revolutionary movement against the fascist dictator Getúlio Vargas (Osmar Prado). Along the long travel to Brazil, while they pretend to be a married couple, they fall in love for each other. In Brazil, they live together as husband and wife, and when the communist upraise fails, they are sent to separated cells in the prison. Olga realizes that she is pregnant, and although being the daughter of a Brazilian on her ventral, which would give her the right to stay in Brazil, the dictator Vargas sends her to Germany, as a gift to Adolf Hitler. With the advent of the Second World War, Olga is sent to a concentration camp, when she passes away on April 1942.

I read Fernando Morais' Olga about fifteen years ago, and I was very impressed with such a touching romantic story of an idealistic revolutionary martyr called Olga Benário Prestes. Yesterday I watched this spectacular movie, and again I got moved with tears on my eyes. 'Olga' is a Brazilian super-production (for Brazilian standards), with European style, that deserves nominations to the Oscar at least in two categories: Best Foreigner Picture and Best Lead Actress. 'Olga' is at least on the same level as Roman Polanski's 'The Pianist'.

Unfortunately, many Brazilian professional cinema 'critics' gave ridiculous ratings and influenced many viewers with their comments, specially those types of persons who pretend to look like intellectual, but in the end do not have personal opinion and are moved by the fashion and repeating the opinion of the others. I do not like to write long reviews, but 'Olga' deserves much explanations. Why the foregoing 'critics' gave low ratings to this wonderful movie? In my opinion, there are two main explanations. The first one is that most of them are usually very conservative persons, who mix ideology with arts. Their belief is that 'communists eat little children' (obs: translation of a pejorative Brazilian expression) and they cannot accept that communists are idealistic human beings, with feelings and love, persons who fight for their ideals. The movie does not spare the torturers and executioners of Olga, giving their names and showing partially their plot. The second point is the prejudice and envy over the roots of the director Jayme Monjardim, who originated from the greatest Brazilian television network and has directed this great national production. Many of these 'critics' dare to compare 'Olga' with an edited television mini-series. The production of 'Olga' is so careful that the resemblances of Camila Morgado and Caco Ciocler with the real Olga Benário and Luis Carlos Prestes are amazing. Fernando Morais' book shows pictures of them. Another example is the snowing scene in the concentration camp, which was filmed in a hot day (approximately 38o C / 100o F) in a factory in Bangu, a district in Rio de Janeiro. The performance of Caco Ciocler, in the important role of Luis Carlos Prestes, could be much expressive and is not in the same level of the rest of the cast, but shame on some Brazilian professional cinema 'critics', who gave low ratings for this outstanding and highly recommended movie. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): 'Olga'

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2 out of 3 people found the following comment useful :-
Olga - Not True To Life, 21 October 2007
6/10
Author: leiser18 from San Jose, CA

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.

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7 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
A Brazilian Super-Production That Deserves Nominations to the Oscar – Shame on Many Brazilian Professional Cinema 'Critics', 29 October 2004
10/10
Author: Claudio Carvalho from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

*** This comment may contain spoilers ***

Minor Spoilers (it is a historic event)

In the 30's, the German Jew Olga Benário (Camila Morgado) leaves her bourgeois family and becomes a revolutionary, with army training in the Soviet Union. In 1935, she is assigned to protect the Brazilian communist leader Luis Carlos Prestes (Caco Ciocler), who is returning to Brazil to raise a revolutionary movement against the fascist dictator Getúlio Vargas (Osmar Prado). Along the long travel to Brazil, when they pretend to be a married couple, they fall in love for each other. In Brazil, they live together as husband and wife, and when the communist upraise fails, they are sent to separated cells in the prison. Olga realizes that she is pregnant, and although being the daughter of a Brazilian, which would give her the right to stay in Brazil, the dictator Vargas sends her to Germany, as a gift to Adolf Hitler. With the advent of the Second World War, Olga is sent to a concentration camp, when she passes away on April 1942.

I read Fernando Morais' Olga about fifteen years ago, and I was very impressed with such a touching romantic story of an idealistic revolutionary martyr called Olga Benário Prestes. Yesterday I watched this spectacular movie, and again I got moved with tears on my eyes. 'Olga' is a Brazilian super-production (for Brazilian standards), with European style, that deserves nominations to the Oscar at least in two categories: Best Foreigner Picture and Best Lead Actress. 'Olga' is at least on the same level as Roman Polanski's 'The Pianist'.

Unfortunately, many Brazilian professional cinema 'critics' gave ridiculous ratings and influenced many viewers, those types of persons who pretend to look like intellectual, but in the end do not have personal opinion and are moved by the fashion and opinion of the others. I do not like to write long reviews, but 'Olga' deserves much explanations. Why the foregoing 'critics' gave low ratings to this wonderful movie? In my opinion, there are two main explanations. The first one is that they are very conservative persons, who believes that 'communists eat little children' (obs: translation of a pejorative Brazilian expression) and cannot accept that communists are idealistic human beings, with feelings and love, persons who fight for ideals. The movie does not spare the torturers and executioners of Olga, giving their names. The second point is the prejudice and envy over the roots of the director Jayme Monjardim, who originated from the greatest Brazilian television network. The 'critics' dare to compare 'Olga' with an edited television mini-series. The production of 'Olga' is so careful that Camila Morgado and Caco Ciocler really look like the real Olga Benário and Luis Carlos Prestes. The snowing scene in the concentration camp was filmed in a hot day (approximately 38o C) in a factory in Bangu, a district in Rio de Janeiro. The performance of Caco Ciocler, in the important role of Luis Carlos Prestes, could be much expressive and is not in the same level of the rest of the cast, but shame on some Brazilian professional cinema 'critics', who gave low ratings for this outstanding and highly recommended movie. My vote is ten.

Title (Brazil): 'Olga'

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
"Olga, 5 March 2006
8/10
Author: i-evans1021 from Swansea United Kingdom

This was a film that leaves an audience stunned and silent! The concentration camp element of the film proved harrowing as did the repressive cruelty of the Vargas regime. However the the growing attraction between Prestes and Olga was tenderly portrayed and beautifully acted. Along with fine performances by the principals,came some effective acting in the supporting roles,plus a haunting musical score and impressive filming. Of course there is a political element to the film but primarily it is the fight between good and evil,with the power of love conquering all. The film was unmistakably Brazilian but uniformly good and deserves high praise

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1 out of 2 people found the following comment useful :-
Stellar Performance, 3 October 2005
8/10
Author: dsylvest-1 from United States

I've just caught the film, and I must say, it is a powerful, powerful depiction - epic, really, of the life of Olga Benario. Camila Morgado is a force to be reckoned with. She left no stone unturned in bringing Olga (back) to life in this film. Her presence in the film is awe-inspiring. Such an amazing actress. Look for the subtle, uncomfortable humor that she depicts in her first night aboard ship with Prestes. It is great acting. And the strength of her gaze in a number of scenes will lock you in your seat. Just an amazing turn by this young actress. I was fortunate enough to see the film with her in attendance, and her comments afterward highlighted an articulate, well-read and focused young woman who is clearly quite serious about her craft and her country. What a breath of fresh air THAT is today!!

The story itself is solid, the cinematography outstanding.

This film will stay with you.

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9 out of 18 people found the following comment useful :-
No, this is not all that Brazilian cinema have to give!, 26 September 2004
2/10
Author: fabiank-1

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

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7 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
I expected more, 21 August 2004
6/10
Author: Valéria Fernandes (utena@uol.com.br) from Brasília, Brazil

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.

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