Premiering at the Toronto International Film Festival last fall was the Chilean drama Colonia starring Mikael Nyqvist, Emma Watson, and Daniel Brühl, which follows a young couple who become entangled in the Chilean military coup of 1973. Directed by Florian Gallenberger, it was picked up for a U.S. release by Screen Media Films and now we have the first U.S. trailer.
We said in our review, “Colonia ultimately falls prey to a desire for a concrete happy ending in the face of adversity. While the film’s exact conclusion works well in Argo because it’s the goal from the beginning, the airport chase here plays as an afterthought. We invest so much time in the compound and its oppression that turning the emotional drama of love into against-the-clock action feels disingenuous. Especially since not everyone survives the initial fight for freedom. How can we experience what should be extreme sorrow in death and then force ourselves to immediately forget it for empty, pulse-pounding cat-and-mouse? Rushed and full of cinematic artifice, Gallenberger and Torsen Wenzel‘s script reveals itself to be devoid of the naturalism the leads are desperately trying to supply.”
Also starring Richenda Carey, Vicky Krieps, August Zirner and Martin Wuttke, check out the trailer below.
Chile, 1973. Lufthansa flight attendant Lena (Watson) is in Santiago to visit her boyfriend, Daniel (Brühl), a talented graphic artist creating images in support of embattled President Salvador Allende. When Allende is violently ousted, General Augusto Pinochet’s forces begin rounding up dissidents. Daniel is taken to the remote stronghold of Colonia Dignidad (“Dignity Colony”), home to a secret agricultural commune and crypto-fascist sect led by sinister minister Paul Schäfer (Michael Nyqvist). Daniel is interrogated and tortured, but feigns severe mental deterioration to stay alive. Valiant and wily, Lena travels to Colonia and offers herself up to Schäfer as a follower. She is determined to find and free Daniel — but first she must ensure that she herself can survive Schäfer’s crushingly oppressive, viciously misogynistic practices.
Colonia opens on April 15th in theaters and on VOD.