The Pearl Button

Released Oct 23, 2015

1h 22m

Documentary

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Audience Score

250+ Ratings

Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán examines the link between Patagonian waterways and genocide.

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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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Bilge Ebiri

Spirituality & Health

This is a rapturous, unsettling movie about beauty, mystery, and unimaginable horror.

Mar 24, 2020

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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Audience Member

Todos somos arroys de una sola agua

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

02/16/23

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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

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Patricio Guzmán

Director

Patricio Guzmán

Voice

Raúl Zurita

Self

Patricio Guzmán

Writer

Renate Sachse

Producer

Bruno Bettati

Co-Producer

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The Pearl Button: Trailer 1

1:44

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Synopsis

Filmmaker Patricio Guzmán examines the link between Patagonian waterways and genocide.

Director: Patricio Guzmán
Producer: Adrien Oumhani
Screenwriter: Patricio Guzmán
Distributor: Kino Lorber
Production Co: France 3 Cinéma, Atacama Productions, 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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