NOSTALGIA FOR THE LIGHT

This film directed by Patricio Guzman is  part of the current 'Wales One World Film Festival,' at Chapter Arts Centre, and marks the 40th anniversary since the military coup led by General Pinochet that resulted in the death of President Salvador Allende and thousands of his supporters. 'The coup was the final chapter in Chile's first socialist experience,when finally the local wealthy classes supported by the USA and CIA,abandoned any pretences of obeying the rule of law and joined in the overthrow of the democratically elected government...' (www.chile40yearson.org.).
       The cinematography by Katell Djian is superb, focusing on the detail of the lives of those women still seeking the remains of their loved ones who disappeared during the seventeen years of the dictatorship, and who may have been dumped in the Atacama Desert or into the sea.  
          The Atacama Desert is the brown bit on the Planet Earth taken from outer space, the only bit of our planet that has no humidity at all.  It is home to giant telescopes and astronomers who study the past through the stars. The film sets this up against the juxtaposition of the 'women of the disappeared.' Stars and human bones are both made of calcium. We see a stark image of an elderly woman sifting through the vast desert sand looking for bones, another who finds her brother's foot, identifiable by his shoe, followed by shots of whirlpools and galaxies of cosmic starlight; very beautiful, but both stare into some kind of void. 
        Jesse Cataldo (www.slantmagazie.com) says,'Nostalgia for the Light' is also an existential mediatation on the inherent horrors of existence, finding parity between the cold recesses of space and the more immediate loneliness of human life.'
         To me it also an exposition on the mystery of our existence, bringing science, spirituality and art together. Breathtaking and strange. I recommend this film to you.
For more info see www.chapterarts.org.uk.