Fernando Morais’s Olga translated for the screen: a revolutionary in Rio?

Abstract

A comparison with the eponymous novel by Fernando Morais (1985), upon which the film Olga (Jayme Monjardim, 2004) is based, illustrates how its reliance on the production values of the telenovela means it falls into the trap that the book avoids: that of representing the communist political figure of Olga Benario as unable to balance her personal and political lives.