Starting with archival footage setting the scene, it's all very promising, for want of a better word. 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). Thankfully, it gets back on track, charting the military coup in Chile by Pinochet in 1973, but that's not the focus here. There is some truly brutal stuff depicted, terrifying even and when terror subsides, sinister takes over, with Micheal Nyqvist exuding pure uncaring evil. Unfortunately Watson really struggles in this role, she doesn't quite fit... which is partly the point, but she feels jarring, rather than her simply being the empathetic character. It's based on a true story, how accurate I can't say, I'm not sure I could bring myself to research further, but if even a fraction holds any weight then the levels of appalling and detestable treatment of people here is completely dismaying. Does it work as a film? It does, but it could have been done better, although it's not for the faint hearted.
Review of Colonia
