For most people who don't know the history of that period, they may be confused when they see "The Colony of Dignity", thinking that the title of the film will correspond to a setting of great bitterness and deep hatred and a grand narrative. Certainly. But in reality, the film is about the triumph of personal dignity over power and fear. It tells the story of an almost impossible resistance, a story of a couple relying on wisdom and courage to fight monsters and escalate along the way in a sinister environment of surveillance, airtightness, violence, and brainwashing and infiltration.
In 1973, the coup d'état in Chile was at its climax. The young German Daniel was kidnapped by General Pinochet's men and sent to a secret base called "Dignity Colony". There were torture and even human trials. That place, ostensibly related only to the church and humanitarianism, was officially sheltered, but it was actually an enclave established by fleeing Nazis. For a long time, that hidden land has woven an unfathomable relationship with various forces, making it a black hole that cannot be talked about. People told Daniel's wife Lena that no one ever came out of there alive. Everyone gave up the idea of rescue. But this stubborn girl, a flight attendant who has no interest in politics at all, decides to go there on her own initiative in order to wait for an opportunity to rescue her husband.
The way the film is told does have a clear and amusing way. It retells a little-known dark history and naturally has the solemn theme of torture of human nature, but at the same time, the director of "Rabe Diaries", Flore Gallenberger, apparently wanted to tell the story in a more dramatic and commercial way. So, from the story itself, it is also a good thriller genre film.
"Colony of Dignity" has written several layers of fear and despair from shallow to deep. The first layer is the fear of being caught. But compared to what happened later, this is nothing, because people always feel that they are detained in a "special" place, and the outside is a "normal" place, and there is hope of being rescued. On the second floor, you will find that once the "dignity colony" is involved in the outside world, they are all shunned. At this time, fear has extended beyond that remote territory and spread to the entire country and even people's hearts. On the third floor, in the Dignity Colony, everyone regards madness as normal, and regards the tyrant who is in charge of it as a god. Human nature has been completely rewritten and inverted, and even mothers and daughters have cut off their relationship and become only superiors and inferiors. In this way, the possibility of attacking from the inside is also cut off. On the fourth floor, when Lena and Daniel escaped and went to the German embassy, they finally discovered that the embassy staff had a secret connection with the Dignity Colony, and were almost sent back there by their own people. This fear has become diffuse at this time, because the "civilized and safe" world in which people hope is also polluted.
Aside from the presentation of its genre films, only in terms of the theme, the real strength of "Dignity Colony" is to open up to people the reason why this evil enclave has existed for many years. Some are deceived into thinking that it is nothing more than a strange and indifferent church teaching aid; others, out of numbness and cowardice, are afraid to explore its violence; Out of the evil of human nature, it is the power system that tolerates the existence of this inhumane territory, and even stands for it for mutual benefit. The isolated island with towering trees, closed iron gates and dense grids has become a wound of human dignity. For many years, people have gone and never returned, but the founder has no fear.
Dignity Colony, internally, uses fear and brainwashing to establish a closed identity and strict control; externally, uses interests and connections with power to create a solid protective layer for itself. Looking back at that period of history today, it would seem almost unimaginable, but at that time, it really worked like this for many years. In reality, Dignity Colony was run by a German corporal officer, Schaefer. After the end of World War II, a large number of Nazi war criminals fled to South America through the "Odessa Organization" established by the SS. There are a large number of dangerous people in the small South American countries controlled by warlords and turbulent. They let their dangerous and crazy thoughts land here, and in the end, the Dignity Colony has really become their paradise.
Like all genre films, the film has a fairly bright tail, as in "Escape from Tehran," where after a tense chase, Lena and Daniel finally escape back to Germany, taking candid photos to expose their sins. However, the boiling crusades from all over the world still failed to shake Chile. The closed horror manor has existed for a long time until the Pinochet regime collapsed and the head of the Dignity Colony, Shafer, was liquidated until 2004. Arrested in Argentina and sentenced to 33 years in prison for crimes that included sexually abusing thousands of children, the powerful figures who gave him asylum, including German embassy staff, Neither received punishment. This is really sad.
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