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The Pearl Button

Play trailer 1:44 Poster for The Pearl Button Released Oct 23, 2015 1h 22m Documentary Play Trailer Watchlist
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94% Tomatometer 48 Reviews 81% Popcornmeter 250+ Ratings
Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán examines the link between Patagonian waterways and genocide.
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The Pearl Button

The Pearl Button

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Critics Consensus

Deliberately paced yet hypnotically absorbing, The Pearl Button offers a poetic look at the wonders of the natural world -- and humanity's place among them.

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Critics Reviews

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Bilge Ebiri Spirituality & Health This is a rapturous, unsettling movie about beauty, mystery, and unimaginable horror. Mar 24, 2020 Full Review Nigel Andrews Financial Times This documentary holds every card in the pack, from geology to anthropology to the history of tribes and tyrants, and plays them like a master. Rated: 5/5 Dec 28, 2016 Full Review Kate Taylor Globe and Mail This haunting Chilean documentary is more poetry than journalism as filmmaker Patricio Guzman compares the fate of the indigenous people of Patagonia with that of the disappeared of the Pinochet regime. Rated: 4/4 Apr 8, 2016 Full Review Jaime Grijalba Vague Visages A master working in movies that are clearly his own, Guzmán is still putting out the best films of his career. Dec 1, 2023 Full Review Mattie Lucas From the Front Row Through Guzmán's unique lens, the history of the natives becomes a kind of ethereal reflection of the universe, irrevocably changed by colonialism and western invasion. Rated: 3.5/4 Aug 7, 2019 Full Review Nick Evan-Cook One Room With A View Far from conventional, this gorgeously soundtracked documentary is a treat for filmgoers willing to be engrossed by Malickian imagery... Rated: 4/5 May 17, 2019 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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spencer p Beautiful, powerful, and creatively sewn together, this historical nature doc surprises you in ways that will haunt, as well as satisfy. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review Audience Member Mais um MARAVILHOSO documentário de Patricio Guzmán. Como poucos, ele consegue conectar diferentes temporalidades. Ela vai da escala temporal da estrelas à escala temporal das civilizações; da escala geológica até a temporalidade da vida humana para dar sentido a ação e a política. Guzmán faz filmes anti-eurocêntricos ao reconectar todo universo a partir do Chile, explorando suas preocupações políticas e cósmicas. Imperdível. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/15/23 Full Review Audience Member Todos somos arroys de una sola agua Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/16/23 Full Review Audience Member Death, massacre, abuse, & genocide. A powerful, moving, and sad sad documentary detailing how the indigenous Indians of Patagonia were wiped out. Bodies, strapped to small sections of train lines, were dumped in the sea from helicopters as late as 1979. 1200-1400 people went missing. A small number of the original tribespeople still survive today ð??¥ Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/19/23 Full Review Audience Member Gentle yet pack a punch in its message on Chilean history and heritage. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 02/11/23 Full Review Audience Member cinegeek.de Alles fliesst, alles ist miteinander verbunden. Die majestätische Schönheit des Ozeans, die Kraft von Gedichten, aber auch die schreckliche Diktatur Pinochets und die Kolonialisierung Chiles während des 19. Jahrhunderts. Patricio Guzman findet dafür melancholisch fliessende Bilder in seinem Essayfilm. So wie den Kristallquader, worin ein Wassertropfen verschlossen ist. Er ist verkalkt, ein wenig bewegt er sich zwar in und her, doch man kann seine Erstarrung nicht lösen. So war es in Chile, nachdem Pinochet die gewählte Regierung von Sslvador Allende stürzte. In dem Kristallquader bewegt sich noch ein winziger Tropfen, verschlossen im Quarz. Blieb in der verhärteten chilenischen Gesellschaft dieser Zeit auch noch etwas übrig, von dem was vorher war? Guzman hat seinen Kristallquader vor schwarzem Hintergrund gefilmt. Er ist isoliert. Ganz anders als Chile mit seiner über 4000 Kilometer langen Küste, untrennbar verbunden mit dem Pazifik. Bis zur Kolonialisierung der Europäer lebte man am Wasser, am Leben. Erst nachdem die Europäer in Chile gelandet waren, wandte man sich ab vom Pazifik ins Landesinnere. Guzmans Film handelt von dieser Abkehr. Erinnerungen an die Wasservölker Westpatagoniens und ein Mahnmal für die Überlebenden der Pinochet Diktatur. Darüber hat Guzman seine Betrachtungen über das Weltlall und die Natur ausgedrückt. Wie ein Vermächtnis des grossen alten Mannes des chilenischen Films. mehr auf cinegeek.de Rated 4 out of 5 stars 01/31/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Pearl Button

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Movie Info

Synopsis Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán examines the link between Patagonian waterways and genocide.
Director
Patricio Guzmán
Producer
Renate Sachse
Screenwriter
Patricio Guzmán
Distributor
Kino Lorber
Production Co
Atacama Productions, France 3 Cinéma, Mediapro
Genre
Documentary
Original Language
Spanish
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 23, 2015, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 1, 2017
Box Office (Gross USA)
$39.6K
Runtime
1h 22m
Aspect Ratio
Flat (1.85:1)
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