In his documentary essay film, Chilean Patricio Guzmán takes a double look at the past: On the one hand there are the astronomers who look up to the sky in the Atacama Desert and explore the origin of the universe, on the other there are the women who search in the desert sand around the observatories for the mortal remains of their loved ones who have become victims of the military dictatorship. A journey into the light.
«I fell into a trance, a dream of stars, poetry and brilliance.»
― Annemarie Jacir«An illuminating view on our never-ending quest for truths. Cosmic and intimate stories meet in this exploration of human memory. Searching for stars that have already gone or for bones of the loved ones (taken violently away) appear as efforts towards the same pursuit.»
― Tania Hermida«I once heard that Guzman said that the desert was a great container of the past. With poetry and lucidity, the film proposes that the ground is the best place to think about the fragility of the present and the future.»
― Paula Hernandez«Another masterpiece by Patricio Guzmán, which takes documentary language to the level of poetry and the highest science.»
― Ciro Guerra