The Pearl Button

Name: The Pearl Button
Genre: Documentary
Released: October 23, 2015
Duration: 82 min
Rating: 80

2015

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 18 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 6 Ratings

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8.2	User Score Universal acclaim based on 6 Ratings

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The Pearl Button

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Movie Details & Credits

Kino Lorber | Release Date: October 23, 2015 | Not Rated

Summary: The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with itsThe ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.… Expand

Director: Patricio Guzmán

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 82 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Kate Taylor

Apr 7, 2016

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. Read full review

100

IndieWire Kevin B. Lee

Sep 30, 2015

The Pearl Button is a vivid, essential portal to understanding not only the heritage of a nation, but also the art of nonfiction cinema. Read full review

Nicolas Rapold

Oct 22, 2015

A master of voice-over and metaphor (the title alone has an amazing payoff), [Mr. Guzmán] sifts through essential truths and draws links between Chile’s past and present inhabitants. Read full review

Time Out London Dave Calhoun

Mar 14, 2016

The connections might be a little more strained and diffuse than in "Nostalgia for the Light", but their cumulative power is strong nonetheless. Read full review

Walter Addiego

Dec 3, 2015

This is history of a personalized and meditative sort, and you ought to give it a chance. Read full review

Alan Scherstuhl

Oct 20, 2015

The voiceover is lyric, the oceanscapes majestic, the anthropology fascinating, and the connections more quizzical and uncertain than in Nostalgia for the Light. This time you have to look harder to follow him. Read full review

Alan Zilberman

Nov 19, 2015

The Pearl Button may not answer all the questions it raises, yet it is an absorbing experience — at least for anyone with a taste for beauty over insight. Read full review

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Rhetorician

Oct 27, 2015

This film is well worth a viewing. The message is poignant, even if you aren't familiar with Chile's history (and you should be). Beautiful imagery spun together into a compelling philosophical exploration about the lose of those who history along with its colonizers and dictators haveThis film is well worth a viewing. The message is poignant, even if you aren't familiar with Chile's history (and you should be). Beautiful imagery spun together into a compelling philosophical exploration about the lose of those who history along with its colonizers and dictators have erased from history, though signs of them remain. An interesting smattering of artists, survivors of Pinochet's dictatorship, and indigenous descendants are featured in the film along with Guzman's introspective narrative about the geography and history of Chile.

The main thing that I would improve about the film is its description which doesn't really tell you much about what is in the film and might not grab attention enough to make people want to see it.… Expand

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73	#73 Best Movie of 2015
75	#75 Most Shared Movie of 2015