Monday, March 5, 2012

Nostalgia for the Light (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)
Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Genre: Documentary
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Language: Spanish, English
Duration: 90 min.
Rating: 8.1  

Summary:
Director Patricio Guzmán travels to Chile’s Atacama Desert where astronomers examine distant galaxies, archaeologists uncover traces of ancient civilizations, and women dig for the remains of disappeared relatives.



Nostalgia for the Light is a documentary by Chilean director Patricio Guzmán. It premiered as a special screening at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival where it was awarded the François Chalais Prize, given to the film "dedicated to the values of life affirmation and of journalism". It also won Best Documentary at the 23rd European Film Awards (2010).

Guzmán travels to the Earth's most arid locale, the high altitude Atacama Desert in Chile. Where the lack of moisture provides an ideal place for astronomers to study the skies, and as it turns out, the vast expanse also offers the perfect place for a military dictatorship to lose it's enemies. Here is where the director trains his camera on the driven scientists and survivors alike, and comes up with a profoundly beautiful examination on the mysteries of life.

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

At first, these two threads couldn't appear any more different. Astronomers with their high tech telescopes and radio antennas studying the cosmos, and old women with their picks and spades digging randomly in the dirt in the hopes of finding the remains of loved ones. However, Guzmán skillfully splices together breathtaking views of the barren rocky land and clear starlit skies, along with intimate interviews with the researchers and the survivors, to form a deeply moving connection that soon becomes clear. The nature of humans to sift through the past in order to give meaning to the fleeting present.

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Not so much a fact based documentary as it is an insightful personal exploration, Guzmán is far more interested in challenging us to ponder the unanswered questions, and he frequently includes images and memories from his own childhood which he narrates with quiet thoughts and ruminations on how they relate to the subject at hand.  

It does tend to wander off course a little bit towards the end, but Nostalgia for the Light ultimately brings together some powerfully meditative cinematography, thought provoking observations, and emotional human stories to form a truly fascinating and convincing essay on how the past is inescapably linked to the present.

Bonjour Tristesse

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

Nostalgia for the Light • Nostalgia de la luz (2010)

7 comments:

Christine said...

I remember sitting in an unairconditioned packed cinema in NYC watching Guzman's Battle for Chile in its entirety and being completely mesmerized the entire time.  I haven't seen any of his other work so I will definitely have to check this out. 

d_4 said...

I could get lost in this. I took a look at the trailer and already, I was hoping it go on for a long time. This will be fun.

NeverTooEarlyMP said...

Really great review here. I knew that this was about the telescopes, but I hadn't realized that there was the second plot line attached as well. It almost makes me think of The Tree Of Life in a way, although with the military dictatorship aspect added in instead of more natural death scenes. 

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Wow that sounds like an incredible experience. I'm going to try and get a hold of that.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I went into this the same. I didn't really know what it was about, other than some gazing at the stars and came out quite pleasantly surprised.

Sam Fragoso said...

I'm dying to see this movie -- from both this review and the article over at Cinema Sights.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

It's truly a remarkable watch, and almost nobody has seen or heard of it. I hope you get to see it soon, so you can help spread the word.

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