Ridley Scott, take note: this is how you make a visually stunning film about the mysteries of creation and the wonders of space. A film of incredible vision that’s simultaneously poetic, philosophical, and scientific, Patricio Guzmán’s rumination on the nature of the cosmos makes for an utterly transfixing documentary.
The Atacama desert in Northern Chile is more than 10,000 feet above sea level and one of the highest and driest places on earth. The lack of moisture means that everything there is preserved, from bones to ancient Pre-Colombian drawings etched onto the rocks, while the thin atmosphere make it the perfect spot for astronomers to search the skies. This blend also makes it the perfect setting for Guzmán’s unique gaze into the past.
Punctuating his film with the kind of striking imagery that would have Terence Malick swooning, the director articulates the illusion of time, drawing a parallel between archaeologists and astronomers who are forever looking into the past.
But Chile, Guzmán asserts, is singular in its refusal to address its recent past, including the use of the Atacama desert as a site for one of Pinochet’s concentration camps in the 1970s – and a possible burial ground. Juxtaposing clips of scientists like Gaspar Galaz who assert that the present does not exist with 80 year-old widows who have spent decades combing the desert for their husband’s remains and an extremely moving interview with a survivor of the camps, the film becomes a lesson in the importance of memory.
With Guzmán’s calm, meditative narration adding to the ethereal, emotional quality of the film, Nostalgia For The Light is as thoughtful and beautiful as it is unexpected.