The Atacama Desert in Chile, 10,000 feet above sea level, is one of the driest places on earth. The air is so thin and the skies so clear that the desert attracts astronomers who use giant telescopes to look back millions of years into the history of the solar system.
The desert also draws elderly women who dig through the sand looking for the remains of loved ones who were shipped off to concentration camps there during the cruel dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet, who seized power in 1973 in a US-backed coup against a democratically elected government. (After voluntarily stepping down in 1990, he was accused of human-rights violations, embezzlement and tax fraud, but died in 2006 before justice could be meted out.)
In his meditative documentary “Nostalgia for the Light,” Patricio Guzman (“The Battle of Chile”) thoughtfully ponders the celestial and earthbound searches for secrets from the past. Katell Djian’s stunning cinematography adds to the film’s power.