Nostalgia for the Light
Veteran Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán adds a celestial dimension to familiar thematic concerns in this majestic documentary, which explores Chile’s Atacama Desert, globally famous as one of Earth’s best stargazing sites but also infamous as the clandestine burial ground for thousands of dissidents murdered by Augusto Pinochet’s authoritarian regime. Guzmán draws a powerful analogy between these two groups, interviewing astronomers who scan the heavens for cosmic clues alongside family members grimly combing the desert for human remains. Couched in ravishing visuals and superlative sound design, this award-winning film offers an inspired fusion of the personal and political.
Gaspar Galaz, Lautaro Núñez, Luís Henríquez
- NOTES from Pablo LarraínPatricio Guzmán is a man I’ve admired for many years. He’s Chilean but has lived in France for a long time. He has done very relevant and substantial work in documentary, analyzing and studying and filming the past of our country. NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT is a very evocative description of memory, a new step for a man who has been around, knows what he’s doing and decided to reconsider this subject with a different sensibility. This is the work of someone who has reached a very high level of mastery. It’s about the desert in the north of Chile, where many people were buried during the dictatorship and were considered—they are still considered—people who were disappeared. They’re the victims who were assassinated by the dictatorship and then buried. At the same time, between 80 and 90 percent of the observation of the galaxies and the cosmos is done in the Atacama Desert—some of the biggest observatories are there. So what Guzmán creates is an interaction between the galaxies, the sky, the cosmos, the observation and the people still searching for family members spread across this vast, dry desert. It’s a very poetic description of time, both of human splendor through technology and what we are able to do but also the human misery that is hidden in that desert. Guzman wonders, Can we turn those telescopes, which look to the sky for science and humanity, to learn about and discover the desert? Can we use them to find something else we’re looking for? That interaction is incredibly beautiful. It’s a very evocative, poetic documentary. It really, really affected me. I think the title is very efficient. It’s a nostalgic state about light, and there’s something continuous: The documentary lets you think that people will always be wondering and searching for galaxies and also for the human condition. That duality is very interesting and beautiful.
