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Touches You

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

For a film that is supposedly based on a true story, 'Colonia' has the feel of a cheap thriller with a very shallow and underdeveloped plot. The story itself sounds interesting enough and it definitely had the potential to be an engaging and fascinating film, but the on screen execution is really poor, heavy handed and sloppily written in parts. To say that this film is overdramatic would be an understatement and it is riddled with clichés and predictable events.Despite the film apparently being based on a true story, much of what happens within the sect feels forced, unnatural and over the top. The violence and abuse seemed to be deliberately overdone for the 'shock factor', but in truth after a while it just becomes repetitive and uninteresting. It's also pretty easy to guess what's coming next and the ending is suitably lame and predictable. There is some decent acting, particularly from Michael Nyqvist, but that's about as far as the positives extend.

This is yet another propaganda piece from a mainstream movie that has an interesting enough premise to get a pass. I can be aware of the BS and still find redeeming qualities or enjoy a movie, the two are not mutually exclusive.The dialogue is rather contrived and pretentious, the 'politics' are very on the nose and predictable in that they are over the top, cliché and essentially just propaganda scratching at the surface of issues (first 25 minutes are dreadful), with exaggerated accents, cringey dialogue and ridiculous background acting. At about the half-hour mark, the film is saved due to the delightful emergence of Michael Nyqvist who gives a great performance as usual.The directing is sloppy at best, the editing is sloppy and every situation feels forced, contrived and/or unnecessary. I'll give one example in regards to a sloppy scenario to clarify my point, but know that these details are riddled and ignored through-out the entirety of the film...Lena decides to be clever and sneak her way out and peep in on one of the late night sessions. She has taken initiative and carefully worked her way into this situation. Yet, when peeking into the window, instead of continuing to be clever and remaining hidden (consistency), she starts practically leaning into the clearly lit up and visible window, and of course is spotted. It is now AFTER the fact she has been spotted, that she now tries to be clever again and run and hide. That whole scenario could have been avoided by simply being a little cautious. It's blatant inconsistent behavior to move the plot along and is an insult to the viewer. It really is. These very common details are in my opinion what can make or break a decent idea/film.All in all it is an unoriginal premise that IS interesting enough to keep you watching once you've started, has SOME redeeming qualities in that it gives some exposure into the cult-like religious world consisting of pedophilia and dominance and psychological torture etc. It is also shot well enough regardless of the poor editing and pacing. And Michael Nyqvist always manages to steal the show imo... But it is a typical propaganda piece in that there are a lot of fabrications in the movie (which is fiction), yet begins and ends on a "serious" political note with a clear angle leaving the viewer with a slanted impression of said nation. Hollywood loves to blur the lines because they underestimate the viewer...One final note, just some food for thought. Isn't it odd or a 'coincidence' that no subject is taboo in film making, and no nationality or religion or topic is off limits when it comes to film making in Hollywood except for 'that one'. You and I know the one. The one tribe/cult that has limitless amounts of films depicting them as 'victims', yet not ONE SINGLE FILM exposing their corruption politically, religiously, socially etc. (Don't believe me? Google it. Find me ONE major film that exposes their tribe in any shape or form. You won't find one.) Christianity, Islam, Buddhism, and every other religion, nation or culture or subject is fair game to be criticized, but don't you dare make a film exposing said tribe on ANY matter otherwise you immediately fall into a 'negative'. An "anti...." so to speak. Funny thing that is huh? But I digress ... this film is a pass. Wasted potential if anything.

If one were to judge "Colonia" purely on face value, it would be an average film. It jumps around a bit, doesn't have a clear narrative, and doesn'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, "Colonia" becomes a much more experience considering they had to keep somewhat on track with the real life events.For a basic plot summary, this movie tells the story of Lena (Emma Watson) & Daniel (Daniel Bruhl), two young adults who happen to get caught up in General Pinochet'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 women'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.Probably the biggest "knock" I'd have on this film is that parts of it really don't make sense (and really don'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.At 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 "don't try to make sense of this place...you never will". That'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 "this was actually a real place". Once you see what happened inside the walls of the cult, that thought alone will make you shudder.It helps, of course, that the acting is mostly spot-on. Watson is perfect, as usual (it's too bad she is taking a bit of a sabbatical these days, as her work is always stellar), and Schafer'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.Overall, I enjoyed watching "Colonia" as much for its uniqueness and "true story" nature (especially one I had never heard of before) as anything else. Like I said, if you critique it on "script cohesiveness" 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.

Colonia (also known as The Colony is some territories) is a film that on paper has it all, a director with runs on the board behind camera, recognisable faces in front of the camera and a true story as its basis that would suggest a high stakes thriller that has the broad appeal of popcorn eaters and renowned critics alike so that Colonia failed so dismally upon its scattered release over the last 12 months (making roughly $61 pounds in its UK cinema release) is disappointing to say the least.When speaking of disappointment its sadly a word that's apt for the film itself even though its far more engaging that its near non-existent support upon release suggests.While never making the most of its full-fledged story of the Colonia Dignidad that existed in the country of Chile for over 40 years thanks to the grizzly work of cult like leader Paul Schäfer (here played by a long haired Michael Nyqvist, doing a fairly creepy take on the character) who operated the facility as a diabolical prison like environment made for no escaping and a life of potato peeling, corn harvesting and public beatings, John Rabe director Florian Gallenberger still instils the film with enough atmosphere and soul that it will at times thoroughly engage.Colonia does however continue on the rather disappointing career trend of Oscar winner Gallenberger who has failed to ever get close to the cinematic work he produced with his foreign language films like Shadows of Time and while Colonia isn't terrible, the director certainly faces an uphill battle to ever get back to the standard he set in the early 2000's.The same could be said of Colonia's stars Emma Watson (who needs next year's Beauty and the Beast to be a big hit) and Daniel Brühl who seem to have found themselves in a career funk of late after early successes at their beginnings and while mostly fine by themselves in this tale, whenever the two get together an uneasy chemistry forms and much of the danger and dramatics of this rather scary story get lost in amongst their badly formed double up.Failing to distinguish itself from a TV movie like vibe, Colonia may not have deserved its quick death and critical drubbing upon release but the story of this eerily scary and freighting true story could've been so much more, even if its moments of quality make it a watchable and often thoroughly enjoyable thriller.3 potatoes out of 5