Review of Nostalgia for the Light (2010) by Rob L — 21 Sep 2012

This has been talked about as one of the best films of 2012 and I keenly anticipated viewing it. Any lingering apologists for Pinochet's 'Economic Miracle' should be taken by the scruff of the neck and forced to sit through its 90 minutes.

But I'll confess to being slightly underwhelmed in all. The central conceit is to draw parallels between the stunning night sky of the Atacama Desert and its rich astronomy and the worst excesses of Chile's fascist regime - mothers of the disappeared sift through the harsh desert to search for the bones of their sons.

I wasn't convinced by the linkage, poetic though it is, and the result is a beautiful film that nonetheless packs a weaker punch that it might have done.