Nostalgia for the Light
Composite Score: 85.7
Featuring: Gaspar Galaz, Lautaro Núñez, Luís Henríquez, Miguel Lawner, Victor González, Vicky Saaveda, Violeta Berrios, George Preston, and Valentina Rodríguez
Director: Patricio Guzmán
Writer: Patricio Guzmán
Genres: Documentary, History, Nature
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Box Office: $410,903 worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Nostalgia for the Light is Patricio Guzmán’s documentary that parallels the work of archaeologists, astronomers, and bereft women working in the remote areas of the Atacama Desert in Chile to uncover the mysteries of the past as a way to reckon with the violent dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. The documentary utilizes gorgeous cinematography of the desert, space, and the telescope complex combined with voiceover from Guzmán and interviews with various individuals working in the aforementioned fields in the desert to try to start unpacking the weight of the past and bringing it out into the light. Guzmán excellently executes his vision and skillfully draws the parallels that he wants his audience to see.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
What I’ve realized about documentaries and their ratings on the various aggregator sites that I use to calculate scores for this blog is that their scores tend to be skewed higher because you don’t often get people watching documentaries who aren’t already interested in the subject matter to begin with. This has made it somewhat difficult for me to review documentaries like this one, because my lack of interest means that they often fail to grasp my attention. Nostalgia for the Light presents a fascinating juxtaposition with beautiful filmmaking to go along with it, but if it’s not something that grips your interest from the jump, I don’t know that those aspects will be enough to draw you in. If you are someone who is fascinated with astronomy, archaeology, or the socio-political history of Chile and/or Latin American, then this documentary is certain up your alley. Otherwise, you’re totally fine steering clear of it.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
What allows this documentary to stand out from the crowd is the unique perspective of its filmmaker. Patricio Guzmán has given his audience an ambitious parable/parallel that allows him to examine his own history while his nation and fellow Chileans examine theirs and archaeologists and astronomers study ours. It’s such a unique approach to the topics that he broaches that anyone with any interest in them would be a fool to miss out on his film. The universal search for understanding of our past so that we can go on living in the present becomes all the more personal when Guzmán takes time to interview academics, victims, and bereaved in places of equal importance, and each of his interviewees adds more layers to the parallelism and the profundity that the director presents to the audience. The most haunting moment comes in the back half in an extended interview with one of the women searching for the remains of a loved one killed by the Pinochet regime where you feel this sense of a bandage being removed and a wound being aired for the first time in a while. The raw pain combined with the potential for healing finally brings home the message that Guzmán has been trying to convey, and it really makes for a beautifully tragic moment.
The unique perspective that Guzmán brings to his documentary makes for a fascinating study of the crossover of science, history, politics, and individuals, earning his film a place of greatness in cinematic history. Its subject matter might not be immediately interesting to all audiences, but if you find your interest piqued, then you’re sure to find a profound film underneath it all. You can currently rent this film on most streaming services if you’d like to check it out.
