Sobering. Troubling. Shattering. The 2010 documentary Nostalgia for the Light hits with the blunt emotional force of a freight train, while also providing a glimpse into the cosmos that has rarely been seen. This revelatory and consummately constructed 90 minute film delves into one of the world’s great genocidal atrocities, and is startlingly unique in that the darkness is counterbalanced by the discussion of how the world was formed, and what we’re all made up of, with the great debate of Science vs. Religion peeking thru around the edges. I thought this was an endlessly fascinating piece of work, but a movie that will clear your tear ducts if you’re not prepared.
There are some grisly discoveries highlighted in this film, but at the same time, some truly beautiful and wondrous sights that no human eye could ever capture. Directed by Patricio Guzmán, Nostalgia for the Light documents the terrible and lasting impacts of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship in Chile, and the unique similarities between the modern astronomers who are currently researching our planet’s history, and the struggles of many Chilean wives mothers, and daughters who still search, some after 20 years, for the remnants of their relatives who were executed during Pinochet’s reign of terror.
Simply put, I’ve never seen anything quite like this spellbinding piece of work, and it’s something that I feel everyone should see once in their life, if for no other reason than to be reminded of how good most of us have it. Terrence Malick would weep all throughout over the cosmic beauty that’s on display in sections of this film, while at many times I thought of the introspective work of Werner Herzog while watching this wrenching and finally profound study of evil and death and hope and humanity.
And the footage of the Atacama Desert in Chile, which is known for being one of the driest spots in the world, is hauntingly gorgeous. This desert is special and receives visits from countless astronomers and scientists every year because the lack of humidity allows for a clear and clean view up into the sky, with it being possible to literally observe stardust and the very particles that make up our fleeting existence on this mud ball called Earth.
Review by Nick Clement
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Nostalgia for the Light
Summary
Illuminating, engrossing, and positively heartbreaking, Nostalgia for the Light is an unforgettable piece of cinema.
