Set in 1973 a couple are trapped in the middle of the Chilean military coup against Augusto Pinochet. When her activist, photographer boyfriend Daniel (Daniel Bruhl) is abducted by DINA, Pinochet’s secret police, Lena (Emma Watson) tracks him to a sealed off compound called Dignidad which is advertised as a mission run by preacher Paul Schafer (Michael Nyqvist) so Lena joins the organisation in order to try and find out what happened to Daniel only to find that behind the scenes the mission is a very different place.

Watson shows some good dramatic acting talent as the driven and intelligent air hostess who risks her life to find her boyfriend and who learns to quickly adapt as the situation needs despite the terrible circumstances she has voluntarily placed herself in, Nygvist is scarily believable as the sadistic leader of the cult who’s depravity went unchecked for years but it is Bruhl who’s journey as the activist leader is the most harrowing, and intriguing, of them all. With this performance along with his star stealing roles as a supporting actor in both Rush and Burnt he is quickly becoming an actor that I look forward to seeing.

While the story itself is a work of fiction it is based around the real life events of the time as the compound, Paul Schafer and the situation are very real. Director Florian Gallenberger has painted a fascinating, yet awful picture of life behind the scenes in the supposed mission where Schafer ran his dual purpose sect with an iron fist and with full co-operation from the Chilean government. Given the potentially powerful historical back story the movie could have been a shocking look at the situation in Chile during that era but the film swings from a film about the lengths people go for love, to a story of human rights abuse, to a jail break movie so the mood is constantly shifting which make the film feel uneven as it takes away somewhat from the shock value of the strong point of the plot but there’s still enough in the film both in the story and the acting to make this one worthy of your time.

DJ Speaks Rating:6 out Of 10