Past is present in Chile desert in 'Nostalgia'
Situated on the leeward side of the Chilean Coast range, more than 10,000 feet above sea level, it is one of the highest deserts and driest places on Earth.
The opening image is the interior of a radio telescope pointed to the stars, which are so bright and clear they seem to flare like miniature high-wattage light bulbs.
Because much of that incandescence emanates from thousands of light-years away, the film emphasizes, astronomy is really a study of the past -- eons of it -- the better to discover who we are, where we came from and where we might be headed.
For Guzman, who is best known for his monumental documentary trilogy in the 1970s, "The Battle of Chile," and for his sorrowful 2004 screen biography, "Salvador Allende," the parallel searches for cosmic origins and for the disappeared people are interlocking metaphors for the human search for meaning and continuity.
The only example of cinematic overreaching is its juxtaposition of what looks like digital stardust -- or is it a purposeful double exposure of the heavens and the earth? -- on earthbound images.