Emma Watson Movies Colonia

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Can lay claim to such an honour. The story of the notorious German-run Colonia Dignidad – a commune in Chile, where it’s estimated more than 30, 000 boys were abused across 30 years – was not unknown. But the film, which stars British actress Emma Watson as Lena, a young woman who enters the colony to rescue her kidnapped boyfriend, has sent shockwaves through Germany.

Colonia

With the colony founded initially in 1961 by Paul Schäfer, a German lay preacher, former soldier and convicted paedophile, it was not just the level of abuse that shocked the nation. Nor the fact that Chilean military dictator Augusto Pinochet had used the commune, situated 350km south of the capital Santiago, as a torture camp and weapons store. For decades, diplomats in the German embassy in Chile had turned a blind eye to the abuses going on.

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Back in March, German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier held a screening of the film for diplomats and politicians. “He gave a remarkable speech afterwards, ” reports Gallenberger when we meet in an Edinburgh hotel, “in which he said, ‘Thank you for the movie, we needed that movie as an impulse to make us question our own behaviour.’ A lot of people said, ‘We have never heard a German minister ever – who is in office – talk critically about his own ministry like he did.’”

As a result, Steinmeier opened up classified archives, about-turning “180 degrees”, as Gallenberger puts it. “Up to three weeks ago, all the archives on the subject of Colonia Dignidad and the embassy were kept a secret, even though after 30 years things have to be opened to the public. Now he decided to open all the archives, to even open the classified material – which he wouldn’t have to open to the public – and even open them for 10 years more than he would have to. And that’s amazing.”

Schäfer, who was eventually arrested hiding out in Argentina, died in 2010 in a Chilean prison, several years after being sentenced to 33 years for sexual abuse of children. But others have gone free – notably German doctor Hartmut Hopp, who fled to Germany back in 2011 after a Chilean court sentenced him to five years for 16 counts of aiding the abuse of children. While Hopp has been living a free man in Germany, two weeks ago prosecutors have looked into whether he can be forced to serve his sentence in a German prison.

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“Many of the things that have been completely ignored for many years ... now suddenly are happening, ” says the director, who cannot hide his delight that his film helped initiate this. Will the German government ever officially apologise to the victims? With a lawsuit currently being brought against the German state by ex-members of Colonia Dignidad, Gallenberger thinks not. “Maybe politicians are going to be cautious to admit guilt in the sense that could be used in front of court, ” he says.

Gallenberger spent four years researching the film, beginning with several trips to Chile where he met former members of Colonia Dignidad to help unpick the monstrous personality of Schäfer (played in the film by Michael Nyqvist). “I think he was an abuser. His strongest character trait was to abuse. He loved to abuse – be it sexually, be it mentally, be it psychologically – in any way because he felt the power, ” he says. “He had 40 years in which he refined the system of hope to brainwash the people, how to destroy their personalities, their identities.”

For former Harry Potter star Watson, he says, it was the chance to play the most adult character of her career. Portraying “a grown-up woman who makes a brave choice” – albeit a fictionalised composite – was the perfect opportunity to do so. “Of course, she wants to show she has made a development after Harry Potter and that she is not only Hermione anymore.”

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He tells of the time he took Watson to the colony, which still operates today by trying to attract tourists to its Bavarian-themed restaurant. “It’s still a strange place, ” he says. One colony member told them his parents were now sleeping on the bed once used by Schäfer. “I said, ‘Your mother is sleeping in the bed that you and every other boy has been raped in for 30 years?’ He said, ‘Yes, my parents sleep in these beds and they’re very proud to sleep in Paul Schäfer’s bed.’”

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It’s a chilling revelation. “The thing is, if they condemn Schäfer, they are condemning their own lives. They have dedicated their lives entirely to what they did there. They know he’s guilty and know he did horrible things...but they haven’t come to terms with it. They were also traumatised. I’m not defending them, but for the older ones, it’s impossible to see who Schäfer was. To them, he was a saint, God on Earth.” Maybe a viewing of

Emma Watson stars in the filmof the notorious German-run Colonia Dignidad – a commune in Chile, where it’s estimated more than 30, 000 boys were abused across 30 years

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Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged inColonia (released in the UK as The Colony) is a 2015 historical romantic thriller film directed by Florian Gallberger, produced by Bjamin Herrmann, writt by Torst Wzel and Gallberger, and starring Emma Watson, Daniel Brühl, and Michael Nyqvist. The film is set against the backdrop of the 1973 Chilean military coup and the Colonia Dignidad, a notorious cult in the South of Chile, led by German lay preacher Paul Schäfer. Colonia is an international co-production of companies in the UK, Germany, Luxembourg, and France.

Principal photography began on 2 October 2014 in Luxembourg; filming also took place in Germany and Argtina. Colonia held its world premiere at the 2015 Toronto International Film Festival in the Special Prestations section.

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The film was released in Germany on 18 February 2016, in the United Kingdom on 1 July 2016, and in France on 20 July 2016.

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In 1973, La is a strong, indepdt and advturous Lufthansa stewardess and is in relationship with Daniel, a West German journalist and activist living in Chile. Upon arrival in Santiago, she reunites with him and they spd their days in the capital peacefully.

One day, the two become tangled in a Chilean military coup at a time wh supporters of deposed Presidt Salvador Allde are getting rounded up by the military under Geral Augusto Pinochet. Wh Daniel is abducted by Pinochet's secret police DINA, La tries to find and save him.

The pursuit leads her to Colonia Dignidad, an isolated secret organisation living in a sealed-off rural farmland and clave near the Andes mountains. The organisation prests itself as a charitable mission run by Paul Schäfer, a former Wehrmacht colonel and army medic who evaded capture and trial following World War II by disguising himself as a Lutheran pastor and lay minister, later fleeing to Chile to build the organisation.

The

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La joins the organisation to rescue Daniel, only to learn it is a cult that combines Baptist-style tets, punitive agrarian lifestyles, Nazism, and aggressive anti-Communism, from which no one has ever escaped. She witnesses Doro, a fellow member, get brutally beat and humiliated at the m's section after it is revealed that she wanted to marry another cult member. La skinny dips in a nearby pond in order to be brought over to the m's section for the same punishmts so that she can find Daniel. After a power outage, she later finds him; he has acted mtally disabled so he would be overlooked. Wh they reunite, the couple discover the organisation is also an illegal operations ctre for DINA, who also use it as a political prison, trafficking ring, and torture vue for dissidts of Pinochet.

With the help of a pregnant nurse named Ursel, La and Daniel attempt to escape from Colonia Dignidad. During the escape, they are discovered and Ursel is killed but La and Daniel escape to the West German embassy. Staff from the embassy betray them but they exit the country by air, with incriminating photographic evidce against 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 Gallberger who co-wrote the script with Torst Wzel.

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Bjamin 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.

Colonia

Filming in Luxembourg lasted through the d of October, and th the production moved to Germany for further shooting in Munich and Berlin. It was also shot in Buos Aires until early 2015.

Colonia grossed $15, 709 in the United States and Canada and $3.6 million in other

Colonia With Emma Watson