A stunning new documentary from the great Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán, The Pearl Button chronicles the history of the indigenous peoples of Chilean Patagonia.
In The Pearl Button, Guzmán turns his attention to a people decimated by colonial conquest. The film opens with breathtaking shots of Chile's famous Patagonian glaciers, ice floes that have been around for tens of thousands of years in a constant cycle of destruction and regeneration. Guzmán observes that as a result of the brutal colonization of the country, despite the fact that Chile contains 2,670 miles of coastline, Chileans today have very little connection to the Pacific Ocean. Devastated by colonization, few members remain to maintain their culture, which has become little more than a cherished memory. Their genocide is contrasted by the more recent tragedy of Pinochet dictatorship, when thousands of political prisoners were murdered or disappeared, many of whose bodies were dumped into the sea. Noting this recurring theme of brutal colonization and devastation throughout Chile’s history, Guzman elegantly builds an argument the importance of preserving memory when all culture is lost. Winner of the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, The Pearl Button is the precise work of a thoughtful master.
DIRECTOR: Patricio Guzmán CAST: DOC LANGUAGE: Spanish COUNTRY: Chile, France, Spain YEAR: 2015 LENGTH: 82 min
