Saturday, January 30, 2021

1192. Nostalgia de la luz

Nostalgia de la luz
Nostalgia for the Light
2010
Directed by Patricio Guzman









I realized it's time to get South America involved in our world tour of sadness. Surprisingly, this wasn't actually as depressing as I thought it would be. Even if it did talk about Chilean concentration camps.

Nostalgia for the Light opens with the narrator, Patricio Guzman, describing his love of astronomy. I wasn't aware of this, but apparently Chile is a huge draw to astronomers, because of its clear skies. Guzman explores the idea that astronomy is a way of understanding the past, then shifts gears to discuss Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship and the lives lost during his regime.

I'll be honest, I didn't follow all of the connections Guzman was making between astronomy and what happened on the Earth That Was, but I did find his ideas intriguing. Astronomer Gaspar Galaz in particular blew my mind with what he was saying, how there is no present because of the millionths of a second light takes to travel and be processed.

Obviously, the visuals of this film were stunning, and made me want to go camping and stargazing again. Maybe one day.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

The Atacama Desert in Chile is one of the driest deserts in the world.

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