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Nostalgia for the Light, 2010
The Atacama Desert in Chile is notable for its extremely low humidity, which makes it the perfect place for astronomers to construct observatories and study the universe. The Atacama has another distinction, however, namely that it is the dumping ground for a tremendous number of tortured and executed political prisoners from the Pinochet era. As scientists attempt to discern light and energy patterns dating back to the beginning of the universe, determined women comb the desert for the bodies of their lost loved ones.
It can be such a fine line between telling a harrowing story and feeling like you’re veering into exploitation. This film takes a truly devastating situation and frames it wonderfully and empathetically by examining the way that the astronomers and the family members are trying to understand the past.
This film has been sitting in my heart since I watched it. It would have been easy for the film to center on the torture and murder that took place, but instead the film is almost entirely focused on how people cope with their pasts, be that family past or the past of the universe. And somehow, this gentle simplicity proves much more devastating than any catalog of criminal acts.
One of the best interview subjects in the film is Gaspar Galaz, a Professor of Astronomy. In one of three sequences in the film that really stuck out to me, Galaz reflects on the different ways that people respond to the quests of the astronomers and of the families. He notes that it’s troubling that people are more aware and supportive of the work of the astronomers, when what the families have gone through is part of their country’s history. He also reflects on the way that people will support the astronomy, but will say to the families that what’s in the past is in the past. Galaz is an empathetic person, and I appreciated that he was able to talk about his enthusiasm for astronomy without ever sounding like he was minimizing what the families are going through.
A second incredible sequence involves a woman recounting what it was like when the searchers finally found her brother. All they could find were some teeth, some skull pieces, and a single foot. She describes spending the night in a house with her brother’s foot, the joy of having found him and the heartbreak of confirming his death smashing together. This interview, and an interview with a 70 year old woman still combing the desert for her lost brother, really pierce your heart.
Then comes an incredible part of the film where the astronomy and the lost families come together in a single person. Valentina Rodriguez was a child when her grandparents were forced to reveal the location of her parents. They did so, managing to save Valentina but at the loss of Valentina’s parents. Valentina talks about this past, her gratitude to her grandparents for raising her, her feelings about being a parent of her own child, and how the eons-long cycles of the world help her to cope with the pain that she feels. Intercut with Valentina’s interview are shots of the grandparents sitting on a couch in the house. They don’t say anything. What can they say? Their silence speaks volumes.
This movie is a gorgeous, heartbreaking but not hopeless, look at how we process our own lives and our place in the world. I found myself incredibly drawn to all of the interview subjects, and I think that the filmmakers did an incredible job of honoring the stories and memories of the victims of Pinochet’s regime without ever feeling exploitative.