Colonia

Plot synopsis:
It starts when we see Lena (Emma Watson) working as an air hostess on a Chile bound plane. She then travels into the center of Santiago with the rest of the crew who are shown to a strong group of friends,(she is particularly close to Pilot Roman) until their van meets the chaos caused by a left wing political rally. Lena then recognizes her boyfriend Daniel (Daniel Brühl) as a lead speaker of the event. He is surprised and overjoyed to see Lena as her arrival was a surprise after a long time apart.The film then shows us that they are in a serious long distance relationship as she presumably lives in Britain (based on the other crew members English accent) and he is living in Chile. They kiss each other and Lena picks up the camera to take photos of the moment. After this, we see Daniel developing the photos most of which are related to his political activities. Whilst eating together, the telephone rings and Daniel is warned by his friend that due an unfolding coup (by the Pinochet regime) they must vacate the flat immediately. They run onto the street attempting to flee the soldiers who are rounding up everybody however they too are caught because Daniel was photographing the event.The army takes the detainees to the main sport stadium in the city at gun point, where a man, with his face obscured identifies anyone who is supposedly against the new right wing government. Daniel is dragged away into a vehicle resembling an ambulance along with other dissidents whilst Lena is free to go.
After this Lena goes to meet the other people who were present at Daniels rally. She asks them to help her find her husband but she is simply told that there is nothing they can do as he has been taken south to a place called Colonia Dignidad (colony of dignity) a place that doesn't live up to its name. It is a dark cult from which no one has ever escaped. Dissidents are sent there to suffer by the army, in return the complex stores their arms.Desperate to rescue her boyfriend, Lena now dressed plainly like a nun with a crucifix takes the bus towards the colony. The colony is in a remote location accessed across several fields from the road, she walks along its high security outer fence towards the main gate, after knocking on the gate she is admitted to the secure complex at which point her passport is confiscated.Immediately she witnesses the dark nature of the place when a crying child is upset and Lena is admonished for comforting him by a senior cult member. Stripped of her possessions she is taken to see the leader Pious (Paul Schäfer ) who interviews her about why she is here. She lies that she is there to seek God, however she isn't believed. Pius forces her to strip and we see that she is wearing more modern clothes underneath. He labels her are are harlot because of this and she is questioned further. Her lie that she is there because she needs him, is believed at which point she becomes a member of the cult and agrees not to try and leave the complex.Meanwhile we see that Daniel has been tortured by the army until Pious turns up pretending to be a caring savior of those being tortured by the army. Throughout his recovery from this he plays dumb, pretending to be called Hans. Under this false identity he is given light duties and when he is caught exploring out of bounds areas he isn't punished .Through Lena we witness the brutal reality of the place, she must work long hours in a field in a manner not unlike slavery .Once, after collapsing from exhaustion she is flogged, begging for water she is given a bucket full of clean water which she is forbidden from drinking. We see that she is locked in a communal cell at night and that the women who are separated from the men are psychologically abused. They only meet men in what is called communal parade, performed for important guests. One (confused) woman believed she was going to marry a man from this parade. After 3 years apart (having only met once) she was taking to "mens gathering" a form of ritualized abuse where women are told by Pious and their "fiance" that they are ugly, dirty and unloved . This whole marriage sham was cruelly concocted by the cult leaders to cause intentional anguish to the women. Schäfer said that "breaking a person" without harming them physically is an art. Pious is also shown to be abusing (sexually) younger children as well, who were separated from their parents at birth to live a life of slavery.In a hope to meet Daniel, Lena swims naked in a river in order to be taken to "mens gathering" to cleanse her of her "indecency". However she didn't see Daniel there as he was trying to escape that night. In doing so he sets off an alarm which calls the men to find Hans with guns. This meant that Lena avoided a beating and by being a "retard" Hans wasn't punished. They are unaware of each others presence in the camp until the next communal parade where Daniel hears that the army will test Sarin gas on him the next day as he is seen as worthless.Thus they agree to meet in the barn where Lena works each night. (Daniel gets there by volunteering for additional work. She finds out in this meeting that he has discovered tunnels under the complex while working in a tool shed, from which he was able to steel a camera with which he photographed where he was tortured. He gives the photos to Lena who is not pleased with the danger they cause them. With a senior cult member (Gisela) coming he hides in the tunnel in the barn whilst Lena hides the photos under a bucket. Lena is now joined by a Doro,a member of her own status to peel the potatoes. Unequipped for the job, Gisela goes away to get her a knife. Seeing that no peeling has been done upon her return the girls are ordered to move apart where the photos are discovered, unsuccessfully denying all knowledge,she appears to be in trouble until Hans steps in to frame his boss saying that he found them in the tool shed. The two then are dismissed so Lena knocks out Gisela who was escorting her back to her quarters and the two meet in the barn again.So Lena Daniel and Doro (who is pregnant and knows her son will be killed by the cult) immediately enter the tunnels following Daniel who gets them to the other side of the fence. Lena and Daniel escape while the other girl was killed by a trip wire operated gun. They were being chased throughout this after
Schäfer discovered Hans was intelligent after searching his cell because of how he had hidden his sedatives in a mattress to escape their control tactics.Now almost free, they hitch hike to the German embassy in Santiago,to get new passports, where the embassy is found to be in cahoots with the cult.( It was founded in Chile by German neo nazis)Despite the embassy being deliberately unhelpful, Lena uses her contacts in the airline to book themselves onto a flight. Carefully guarding their photos as they are taken to the airport by the ambassador, where Lena becomes suspicious about being driven through the back entrance. Locked in a side room she sees that the embassy have bought Pious and the army after them so she smashes a window, thus they escape the room just in time. Running through the airport they hear the final call for their flight (despite being told by the embassy they were early) they can see the plane some distance across the airfield closing its door.As the action intensifies they can see Pious through a window where Daniel spits at the glass) .They steal a baggage truck to race towards the plane where Roman orders the door to be opened. Perused by the cult and the army they board the plane just in time leaving Schäfer trapped on the steps, so the army gets air traffic control. Sensing the danger they are in and fueled by his loyalty to his good friend Lena, Captain Roman ignores this order takes off anyway saving them both.The credits then roll after some information detailing what happened to the real life Paul Schäfer (who died in 2004 in a Chilean prison)

Tags: cult

Review:
Superb acting by Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl made the movie an even more intense experience.
This movie is so exciting from the minute it starts a real thriller with a damn good story.
It may sound like a bizarre work of fiction, but the location portrayed in the historical drama "Colonia" (NR, 1:50) was all too real (except for the fictional romance at the center of the film).
But before I get into my plot summary, I think that a little historical context is in order: In September 1973, a U.S.-backed military coup wrested control of the government of Chile from democratically-elected socialist president Salvador Allende and placed power in the hands of army commander-in-chief Augusto Pinochet.
He forced them to live in dormitories segregated by gender, and with parents separated from their children, whom Schäfer sexually molested.Daniel Brühl plays Daniel, a political activist from Germany who has been living in Chile for a few months working with a group of young people supporting President Allende.
As Lena joins the women in their daily work in the fields and in other food preparation activities, she learns what she can about the camp and keeps her eyes peeled for Daniel.Daniel has survived severe physical abuse at the hands of the Chilean secret police in the colony's subterranean torture chamber, but he is a bit worse for the wear.
Besides the terrible ways that Schäfer uses and abuses his followers, it turns out that he's also into some other nasty business that further reduces even the slim chance that Daniel and Lena have to get away for good."Colonia" takes a little-known chapter in history and spins it into an interesting and entertaining tale of romance and danger.
The direction, by Florian Gallenberger (who won an Oscar for his 2000 live action short film "I Want to Be"), sometimes feels a little disjointed, but he mostly keeps things moving and builds some serious tension into the movie's plot.
Inspired by true events, Colonia is a Hollywood-style thriller about a couple who finds themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time- the torture prison of a religious cult under the influence of the Chilean secret police in 1974.
Daniel gets abducted and taken to a hidden cult in a rural area called Colonia Dignidad, run by ex-Nazi Paul Schäfer (Michael Nyqvist).
Left with no other choice, Lena willfully joins the Colonia as a desperate, last-ditch effort to find her boyfriend, risking her own life to bring him home as she discovers that those who enter the cult never leave.Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl play Lena and Daniel with an innocence about them that has you rooting for their success.
Watson and Brühl are crucial to the film's success, but individually speaking, these roles won't likely result in a significant boost to their careers.Colonia can't escape the comparisons to Eli Roth's The Sacrament or the documentary Kidnapped for Christ (if you haven't seen it, it's available to stream on Netflix, and is a MUST- watch), which may hurt Colonia's overall success because it is not as riveting by comparison.
Audiences know what they are getting with an Eli Roth film, and a documentary has its own sense of wonderment, but Colonia tends to jump from the political thriller to love story to religious brainwashing in a patchwork way that feels a bit all over the place, and it is this "clumpy" genre blending that may be the film's weakest point.
Plus, Daniel and Lena's relationship is never fully established in the beginning of the film, so we are left to wonder why she would risk her life to save this person.At its core, Colonia is an interesting story, but not a very memorable film.
The fact that it is based on a true story is what keeps the film afloat and the inclusion the smuggled archival photos of the real Colonia Dignidad at the end is a much-needed gem.
Yet, even with cinema-savvy actors Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl, Colonia can't quite seem to gain the traction needed to be a standout film.For more, visit: www.cinemacy.com.
With that in mind, "Colonia" becomes a much more experience considering they had to keep somewhat on track with the real life events.For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the story of Lena (Emma Watson) & Daniel (Daniel Bruhl), two young adults who happen to get caught up in General Pinochet's military coup of Chile (both were protesting against that very action).
Lena volunteers for the women's section of the cult/camp, experiencing similar horrors of her own in order to track Daniel down and hope to come up with an escape plan.Probably the biggest "knock" I'd have on this film is that parts of it really don't make sense (and really don't even try to).
Plus, there is just an air of weirdness and mystery surrounding the entire project that gives it a great sense of foreboding and tension.Overall, I enjoyed watching "Colonia" as much for its uniqueness and "true story" nature (especially one I had never heard of before) as anything else.
Like I said, if you critique it on "script cohesiveness" alone it might come up lacking, but once you let the gravitas of its real-life events sink in I think it will move you to care about the characters and their situations..
When the post-script information presented before the end credits, telling of the true facts and showing actual photos of the real events of Colonia is for more emotionally affecting and interesting than the film that preceded it- you know you're in trouble.In fact I had completely forgotten I had even watched this film until I came across it on a random film list.
It makes the treatment of the true story seem exploitative and disrespectful to the actual victims who had to live through this atrocity.Colonia feels like a poorly written blurb you'd find in a history book in high school, and the bull shitted 5 page essay one would write just to get a passing grade.
Wenzel and Gallenberger manage to drain their story from any depth or nuances.This is a straightforward stereotypical and shallow story about the all conquering love of a beautiful heterosexual couple, the inexplicable cruelty and grandiosity of a disgusting cult leader and the submissive ninnies who follow him.Instead of engaging character development and a curious investigation in the psychological mechanisms behind this kind of extremely controlling groups, we are served a bunch of clichés on the straight road of predictable events..
This movie tells us the story of what happened in Chile whit in the grounds of Colonia Dignidad, a cult managed by Paul Schafer.
It reflects the reality that people suffered inside the cult pretty well and it doesn't makes it see worse than here in Chile we think it was.Emma Watson's acting has that something special that you can find in all awesome actors.
Lena tracks him to the religious cult Colonia Dignidad run by Paul Schäfer (Michael Nyqvist) and decides to join.
Set During the 1973 coup in Chile, Emma Watson's character falls for her revolutionary boyfriend who gets arrested during the coup and is sent to the little known 'Colonia Dignidad' a Germanic themed cult with a large compound in the south of Chile and close ties to the Military regime.
This is my review of Colonia (spoiler free)** (2/5) Cast: Emma Watson, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey, Vicky KriepsPlot: A young woman's desperate search for her abducted boyfriend that draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody has ever escaped from.Set in 1973 and inspired by true events you would think that this movie would have some kind of drama and/or story attached however it does not the only thing that lasts throughout the film is Lena (Watson) and Daniel's (Bruhl), chemistry but that is all that stands out.
The only thing that is good about it is it has an interesting cast and great chemistry between two characters mainly Lena and Daniel but soon turns bad when Lena enters a cult, a religious cult of all things.
The best performance comes from all three main actors Emma Watson who hasn't had a big movie in a while and this is certainly better than Regression (2015) well not much.
This film also has no character development it leads the fact of you have to research the characters but no one can be bothered to do that so this film f***ed up as it is, is lacking in the one main thing that will make it that little bit better, and entertaining is that it is missing a story, well a good one anyway and also character development we just know their names and what they do that's it.
The one thing that you can praise about him is that he managed to say what happened to these characters in real life but the only good thing about it.Poor story: If there was one the story would actually be the best thing about the film unfortunately there is no story well if there if there is it is certainly hidden and also incoherent.
They both end up prisoners in the Dignity Colony where torture and abuse hide under the pretext of religious fervour.Emma Watson and Daniel Bruhl lead.
Then things get interrupted by the prolonged introduction of a love story between Daniel Brühl (who is very good) and Emma Watson (who sadly isn't).
I only grabbed it because I think Emma Watson is a fine actress and I like good political/historical thrillers.
Maybe there's missing a little details in the story of Colonia Dignidad, so the viewers can be related with victims, and that's what would make this movie perfect in his category.Excilent relationship between historical story and romance of two main character.
As for the actors, Emma Watson was splendid, also Daniel Brühl which deserve much more serious parts in the bigger movies, world wide actor, new Christian Bale, i think that his time is just begin..
If anything, the horrific events have been downplayed, as we latterly learn that the leader of the cult, Paul Schäfer, was ultimately imprisoned for sexually abusing the children under his care; this was something only alluded to in the film, so subtly in actual fact that I completely missed it until the end credits mentioned it.
Michael Nyqvist is very good in the role of the highly unsympathetic Schäfer, his is probably the most impressive performance in the film; although Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl are both very compelling in their roles of the main protagonists.I liked the fact that this film cast a spotlight on a part of the world that cinema rarely focuses on.
Admittedly, most of the film takes part in the claustrophobic confines of the very creepy Colognia Dignidad but it is such an interesting and sinister real life place that it absolutely justifies a story fully focused on it.
Review: I found it quite amazing that this movie was based on true events, because the controlling leader of the colony, Paul Schafer (Michael Nyqvist) really had some warped rules, which went way over the top.
The photos of the real Chilean colony were touching and the fact that Lena (Emma Watson) and Daniel (Daniel Bruhl), went through so much to escape from the horrendous conditions, made the movie quite intense towards the end.
With that aside, I still found this movie interesting and emotional but, for some unknown reason, it felt like there was something missing.Budget: $14million Worldwide Gross: $2.5millionI recommend this movie to people who are into their drama/romance/thrillers, starring Emma Watson, Daniel Bruhl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey, Vicky Krieps, Jeanne Werner and Julian Ovenden.
A kind of film you want to fast forward in some places , It started good then you'll feel bored if it wasn't based on a true story I would probably just stop watching , Since I like movies based on true stories I had to wait until the end to write a review.
The movie stars Emma Watson, Daniel Bruhl and Michael Nyqvist.
I still really enjoyed it.The story revolves around a young German couple, named Lena (Watson) and Daniel (Bruhl).
The 3rd feature film by German director Florian Gallenberger, "Colonia" is set against the backdrop of the 1973 Chilean military coup & the real "Colonia Dignidad", a notorious cult in the South of Chile.
For a film that is supposedly based on a true story, 'Colonia' has the feel of a cheap thriller with a very shallow and underdeveloped plot.
The actors - very stellar cast of Emma Watson as Lena, girlfriend of Daniel, who has to join the cult Colonia Dignidad to rescue him.
Colonia (also known as The Colony is some territories) is a film that on paper has it all, a director with runs on the board behind camera, recognisable faces in front of the camera and a true story as its basis that would suggest a high stakes thriller that has the broad appeal of popcorn eaters and renowned critics alike so that Colonia failed so dismally upon its scattered release over the last 12 months (making roughly $61 pounds in its UK cinema release) is disappointing to say the least.When speaking of disappointment its sadly a word that's apt for the film itself even though its far more engaging that its near non-existent support upon release suggests.While never making the most of its full-fledged story of the Colonia Dignidad that existed in the country of Chile for over 40 years thanks to the grizzly work of cult like leader Paul Schäfer (here played by a long haired Michael Nyqvist, doing a fairly creepy take on the character) who operated the facility as a diabolical prison like environment made for no escaping and a life of potato peeling, corn harvesting and public beatings, John Rabe director Florian Gallenberger still instils the film with enough atmosphere and soul that it will at times thoroughly engage.Colonia does however continue on the rather disappointing career trend of Oscar winner Gallenberger who has failed to ever get close to the cinematic work he produced with his foreign language films like Shadows of Time and while Colonia isn't terrible, the director certainly faces an uphill battle to ever get back to the standard he set in the early 2000's.The same could be said of Colonia's stars Emma Watson (who needs next year's Beauty and the Beast to be a big hit) and Daniel Brühl who seem to have found themselves in a career funk of late after early successes at their beginnings and while mostly fine by themselves in this tale, whenever the two get together an uneasy chemistry forms and much of the danger and dramatics of this rather scary story get lost in amongst their badly formed double up.Failing to distinguish itself from a TV movie like vibe, Colonia may not have deserved its quick death and critical drubbing upon release but the story of this eerily scary and freighting true story could've been so much more, even if its moments of quality make it a watchable and often thoroughly enjoyable thriller.3 potatoes out of 5.
I applaud Emma Watson for choosing a role like this in a small movie with such important subject matter, which shows a great deal of character and intelligence compared to much of the industry..
The film attempts to spin a thriller story inside the larger and more important history of Colonia Dignidad, a torture, rape and death place run like a religious cult by a pedophile Nazi ex-nurse preacher in collaboration with both the Chilean and German authorities.
Even if Brühl is missing during the early scenes of Watson's character's presence at Colonia Dignidad, then he is still a co-lead and he is in over 75% of the film too.
Ostensibly a farm and religious commune, Colonia Dignidad was actually a secret detention camp for political dissidents and supporters of President Allende, ousted from power by General Augusto Pinochet during the 1973 Chilean coup d'état.In the film, lovers Daniel and Lena get caught up in the coup.
Michael Nyqvist (who looks remarkably like fellow Swede Stellan Skarsgård) as Paul Schäfer is chilling and Emma Watson acquitted herself very well as Lena.Colonia or The Colony is a quality piece of film making that sheds light on a dark period of our recent history.
Now that I have seen it, my enthusiasm has tempered a little, but I still think it has a lot going for it.In 1973, German Lufthansa stewardess Lena (Emma Watson) joins Colonia Dignidad, a secret commune in Chile, to rescue her activist boyfriend Daniel (Daniel Brühl) who has been imprisoned and tortured by the secret police.
Colonia, also known as The Colony, is a 2015 historical romantic thriller film starring Emma Watson.
The film is in the 1973 Chilean military coup and the real Colonia Dignidad.
The movie starts with Emma Watson finding his boyfriend - a German political activist in Chile.
"I've been here since four months and now Chile is my home" - he said something like that, and these are his motivations according to the film's narrative.So then comes Emma Watson, who is desperately in love with him, however, they seemingly lack any chemistry along the whole movie.
It might have only been a shocker to those who have never seen a movie before :/ Even if it was based on a real story, it was showing a pretty few things, a documentary could be much more intense then this one.
Maybe, but it seems a bit too easy.)So most of the movie is about life in the Colonia and eventually Daniel and Lena looking for a way to escape without getting shot.
The early minutes of the film pass to the character and focus on the love relationship between Lena (Emma Watson) and Daniel (Daniel Bruhl) in a way that we love to watch their love affair until the end!