In my first few months of college, I met a Chilean graduate student that was studying geology. I wanted to talk about Neruda, and he was more than happy to oblige. Naturally, my friend was fascinated with rocks, so much so that when traveling, he often had to declare extra weight for the containers of earth he transported back and forth. The shelves in his office were lined with geodes, fossils and amber, but anything related to science intrigued him deeply. I often had the sense Ohio was incredibly disappointing to him -- geographically dull, relatively young in the grand scheme of things, and too populated with mall and parking lot lights to get a good view of the night sky. Nonetheless, I accompanied him on several excursions -- once, to keep watch for the comet Hale-Bopp, and later, during a field work expedition in Punta Arenas, near the Strait of Magellan. Though he was made of many things, earth and The Earth were integral parts of his identity. Sometimes, I have the feeling it is so for most Chileans. Maybe it has to do with the incredibly varied nature of the Chilean landscape, the frequency of earthquakes or the long, narrow boundary lines of the country itself. Earlier on this blog, I attempted to address similar questions after the miners were rescued.
Patricio Guzmán is one of Chile's most well-known documentarians, and his work is essential for anyone interested in memory and human rights. His most famous quote, also on the front page of his website, is "Un país sin cine documental es como un país sin album de fotografías" ("A country without documentary film is like a country without a photo album"). The trailer for his new film, "Nostalgia for the Light," opens by addressing the Atacama desert. A NYT review calls the documentary, which opens Friday in Greenwich Village, a "meditation on astronomy, archeology, geology and human rights."
For more information, see the film's official website here. I will report back on the blog after I've seen it, but in the meantime, if anyone would like to share initial reactions, please do so using the comment feature of this post.
Read more here:
Review in Reverse Shot
Review in Slant Magazine
Interview in Filmmaker Magazine
View brief clips here:
Clip 1
Clip 2
Clip 3
No comments:
Post a Comment