I have seen a few of the small number of documentaries featured in the book 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die, this Spanish language one I was hoping would be another worth entry. Narrated by director Patricio Guzmán the film opens in the Atacama Desert in Chile, a place in the world with no moisture whatsoever. Astronomers are peering deep into the cosmos of space, looking at the alignment of planets and stars, searching for answers concerning the origins of life, on Earth and possibly elsewhere. Also in the desert are a group of women sifting through the sand searching for the body parts of people, including their loved ones, who were killed in concentration camps and dumped unceremoniously during the regime of Pinochet. This film is both an insight into astrology and a political look into Chile's dark past, it has great visuals of the desert and outer space, and also features archaeology and footage of the historical horror of death under Pinochet. I will admit it was not easy to follow the entire film, because it switched the two genres every so often, and you obviously have to read the subtitles during, it's not the sort of film I'd see more than once, but it was an interesting enough documentary. Worth watching, at least once, in my opinion!
Review of Nostalgia for the Light
