In 1973, Daniel and Lena, a young German couple, become entangled in a Chilean military coup at a time when supporters of deposed President Salvador Allende are getting rounded up by the military under General Augusto Pinochet. When Daniel is abducted by Pinochet's secret police DINA, Lena tries to find and save her boyfriend. She tracks him to a sealed-off organization called "Colonia Dignidad", which presents itself as a charitable mission run by a lay preacher, Paul Schäfer. Lena joins the organization to rescue her boyfriend, only to learn it is a cult from which no one has ever escaped. She later finds Daniel, who acts disabled to be overlooked. Daniel discovers the organization is also an illegal operations center for DINA. Lena and Daniel attempt to escape from Colonia Dignidad along with Ursel, a pregnant nurse. Ursel is killed and both Lena and Daniel escape to the West German embassy. Staff from the embassy betray them but the lovers exit the country by air, with incriminating photographic evidence against Colonia Dignidad.
Cast
Emma Watson as Lena, a young woman who joins the cult Colonia Dignidad to rescue her boyfriend Daniel.
Daniel Brühl as Daniel, Lena's boyfriend, a West German citizen kidnapped by General Augusto Pinochet's secret police DINA.
Michael Nyqvist as Paul Schäfer, the leader of Colonia Dignidad.
On 29 September 2014, it was announced that Emma Watson and Daniel Brühl would star as a couple in the upcoming film which is based on a real historical background, directed by Florian Gallenberger who co-wrote the script with Torsten Wenzel. Benjamin Herrmann would be producing the film through Majestic Filmproduktion, and Nicolas Steil would co-produce through Iris Productions. Kolja Brandt would be director of photography, and Hansjörg Weißbrich would be the film editor. On 27 October, Michael Nyqvist joined the film to star as Paul Schäfer. Principal photography began on 2 October 2014 in Luxembourg, where it was shot in Haut Martelange near to Rambrouch on the Luxembourg-Belgium border. Filming in Luxembourg lasted through end of October, and then the production moved to Germany for further shoot in Munich and Berlin. It was also shot in Buenos Aires until early 2015.
Colonia grossed $15,709 in the United States and Canada and $3.6 million in other countries, giving a worldwide total of $3.62 million. In Germany, Colonia grossed $608,337 in its opening weekend. After seven weeks, the film grossed a total of $1.9 million. In the United Kingdom, the film was released in three cinemas nationwide, as part of a distribution deal geared towards video-on-demand. The film grossed just $61 in its opening weekend.
Critical response
On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 26% based on 47 reviews, with an average rating of 4.23/10. Some Chileans protested the film, claiming historic inaccuracies and stating "foreigners only believe what they want to about that time."
