jason-carr1-719-551711 Having researched colonia dignidad for some years I was looking forward to seeing how brave the filmmakers would be at addressing some of the underlying 'rumours' surrounding this place and its real structure, sadly they have not don't the story justice.... the movie is however a good thriller and part way to showing what a inhumane creature paul shafer was. I would have liked to have seen the makers explore the bigger questions such as: 1/ are we really expected to believe that an ex Nazi paedophile was backed by not just the Chilean government but also the German embassy, would these people really put their heads on the line just to protect one rather unimportant man from doing something despicable? they would however do it to protect something far larger and far more powerful........ 2/ who was really behind the weapons manufacture at the colony, as I assume it takes more than a low level Nazi paedophile to create a weapons manufacturing plant, let alone chemical weapons 3/ to build such a complex as colonia dignidad along with its enormous military grade subsystem would take some serious financial backing and purpose other than a paedophiles playground 4/ we saw a shot of the advanced (for its time) radio room but no questions as to why it was there, also no mention of the enormous radio antenna on the estate... does a insular cult camp need mass communication? 5/ no mention of post war Nazi escapee's who according to witnesses visited and had a role there 6/ many more things that could have been addressed but maybe that's something you can research yourself

Fallen Eye So, was this film based on true events, like how Titanic was based on true events, because, what Lena and Daniel went through, is straight out of a movie.Without this picture showing us the true nature of what it means to be a part of the cause Daniel was fighting for, his brethren seem pretty selfish, cowardice and without integrity. They just seemed all too willing to allow Daniel to fend for himself.For me personally, it would've made more sense for the Allende supporters to be the ones who orchestrate some sort of rescue, instead of Lena, seeing as, the strength of Lena and Daniel's bond is a mystery. If anything, given what she said when she entered his home, one would believe they're only just really, getting acquainted. Unless, that was their idea of playful banter and flirting.Nevertheless, Colonia is quite intense, and Emma Watson gives a charming performance. Daniel Bruhl, perhaps not his best outing, but, he is proficient, and the composition is very capable. The plot and story kept a gripping enough pace and what happened to Ursel, was somewhat heartfelt.A capturing, 7/10.

James Florian Gallenberger's "Colonia" is a hard - if certainly worthwhile - watch, and for obvious and less-obvious reasons.For a start, and above all, it presents a persuasive, apparently-true story that never actually happened at all. I do not know if any non-Chileans caught up in Pinochet's (American-backed) 1973 coup against the democratically-elected (if Soviet-backed) Allende could conceivably have been seized and tortured in the way that Daniel Bruhl's Daniel is in this film (however close to the Allende cause they may have been), and - since the character portrayed does not really exist - I am reasonably entitled to question the whole scenario!Equally, I do not know if any German girlfriend would be brave-crazy enough to join (for months on end) a bizarre Nazi-German cult operating in the south of Chile in order to find and help out (preferably even break out) the aforementioned torture victim, given that the (huge-area) cult HQ was surreptitiously also being used by Pinochet's thugs - in uniform and out of it. In this case, however, Emma Watson's first-sassy and then uber-restrained portrayal of Lufthansa flight attendant Lena Kortus is so earnest, and her young-love dedication to and affection for her beau so persuasive, that the fictional story does at least hold its own. This kind of thing ought to have existed, even if it didn't!Ironically, that (and even Watson's quite-specific, if considerable, beauty) makes handling this film more complex for the watcher, not less, since the fictional story may actually get in the way of the largely-true background circumstance, that the (Initially voluntary-membership) pseudo-religious cult under leader Paul Schafer (here played marvellously well - and hence as a repellent and disgusting figure - by Michael Nygvist) did exist, did apparently entail brainwashing and brutal treatment, the violation of a whole list of human rights and widespread child abuse by its founder, and did apparently have a blind eye turned to it by the German Embassy (though this seems almost impossible to credit from today's perspective).And that brings us to another problem with/for "Colonia", given that the cult - at Colonia Dignidad (of all names, hence the title of the film), is presented so shockingly, if at times almost matter-of-factly, that we as normal audience-members simply cannot fully take it in. It is so remote from our experience, so implausible in its reality, that we can't fully connect with the story (thankfully, one might say).Yet a further issue is that someone first picking up the film may be inclined to believe they are mainly in for an Allende-Pinochet story, and indeed the first part of the film would give them every reason to believe that. But then we home in on Schafer's Colonia, and our attention is divided between the awfulness of the colony's role in backing Pinochet, and it's more general and hideous awfulness.The whole "digestion" process is helped along a little by the excellent British actress Richenda Carey, who puts in the performance of her career as head of the women's part of the camp, Gisela. This foul character nevertheless evokes the occasional micro-moment of sympathy, and that is a huge acting achievement in itself. Fellow Brit Julian Ovenden also has a bit-part that is more than that, given the way his Captain Roman Breuer has such a major role in anchoring us ever-so-slightly in the real world (even though he presumably did not exist, and his character did not do what is portrayed here, as presumably (???) no real-life airline pilot actually did).While many of us were alive and kicking in '73, the remoteness of that year is made clear by James Blunt's song and the amazing recreations of the BBC's wonderful "Life on Mars". But it still beggars all possible belief that something like Colonia Dignidad could have operated at that time. It must be fiction, yet it isn't, while the key love story on which this film hinges ought to have existed, but didn't. And thus to the whole issue with this compelling, well-acted and amazingly portrayed story that is certainly impossible to ignore.

Undercoversta I was really impressed by this movie and I think, it's underrated at the moment. Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl did a great job there. You feel some kind of magic between them. Also the other characters are realistic and credible.After watching it I felt, like I was in the colonia myself