Colonia Dignidad – Es gibt kein Zurück (2015)

Colonia Dignidad – Es gibt kein Zurück: Directed by Florian Gallenberger. With Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl, Michael Nyqvist, Richenda Carey. A young woman’s desperate search for her abducted boyfriend draws her into the infamous Colonia Dignidad, a sect nobody has ever escaped from.

“If one were to judge u0026quot;Coloniau0026quot; purely on face value, it would be an average film. It jumps around a bit, doesnu0026#39;t have a clear narrative, and doesnu0026#39;t really even have all that much resolution. When you consider that it is based on true events, however, it needs to be judged in that capacity. With that in mind, u0026quot;Coloniau0026quot; becomes a much more experience considering they had to keep somewhat on track with the real life events.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eFor a basic plot summary, this movie tells the story of Lena (Emma Watson) u0026amp; Daniel (Daniel Bruhl), two young adults who happen to get caught up in General Pinochetu0026#39;s military coup of Chile (both were protesting against that very action). Daniel is sent away to some sort of cultish camp (Colonia Dignidad) which is led by the brutal and enigmatic Paul Schafer (Michael Nyqvist). Lena volunteers for the womenu0026#39;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.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eProbably the biggest u0026quot;knocku0026quot; Iu0026#39;d have on this film is that parts of it really donu0026#39;t make sense (and really donu0026#39;t even try to). In film-making convention, that is kind of a no-no. You never really understand the motivations behind some of the characters or the things that happen.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAt the same time, though, that is a large part of why this movie can be quite effective when looked through a different lens…that of reality. One of the characters, a fellow cult member to Lena, utters a quote along the lines of u0026quot;donu0026#39;t try to make sense of this place…you never willu0026quot;. Thatu0026#39;s what the viewer has to do when watching this movie, too. Instead of dissecting it, this is one of those movies where you just have to sit back and allow yourself to think u0026quot;this was actually a real placeu0026quot;. Once you see what happened inside the walls of the cult, that thought alone will make you shudder.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eIt helps, of course, that the acting is mostly spot-on. Watson is perfect, as usual (itu0026#39;s too bad she is taking a bit of a sabbatical these days, as her work is always stellar), and Schaferu0026#39;s character is legitimately creepy. Plus, there is just an air of weirdness and mystery surrounding the entire project that gives it a great sense of foreboding and tension.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOverall, I enjoyed watching u0026quot;Coloniau0026quot; as much for its uniqueness and u0026quot;true storyu0026quot; nature (especially one I had never heard of before) as anything else. Like I said, if you critique it on u0026quot;script cohesivenessu0026quot; 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.”