''The Pearl Button'' ( es, El botón de nácar) is a 2015 Chilean

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...

directed by

Patricio Guzmán Patricio Guzmán Lozanes (born August 11, 1941) is a Chilean documentary film director. He is most known for his films '' The Battle of Chile'' (1975-1979) and ''Salvador Allende'' (2004). Career Guzmán also teaches documentary film classes in ...

. It was screened in the main competition section of the

65th Berlin International Film Festival The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...

where it won the Silver Bear for Best Script. It won the Lumières Award for Best Documentary at the

21st Lumières Awards The 21st Lumières Awards ceremony, presented by the Académie des Lumières, was held on 8 February 2016, at the Espace Pierre Cardin in Paris to honour the best in French films of 2015. Nominees were announced on 4 January 2016. ''My Golden Day ...

. The filmmaker has described the work as part of a

triptych A triptych ( ; from the Greek adjective ''τρίπτυχον'' "''triptukhon''" ("three-fold"), from ''tri'', i.e., "three" and ''ptysso'', i.e., "to fold" or ''ptyx'', i.e., "fold") is a work of art (usually a panel painting) that is divided ...

with ''

Nostalgia for the Light ''Nostalgia for the Light'' ( es, Nostalgia de la luz) is a 2010 documentary film by Patricio Guzmán to address the lasting impacts of Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. Guzmán focuses on the similarities between astronomers researching humanity's ...

'' and potentially a third film focusing on the Andes. It explores familiar Guzmán themes such as memory and the historical past, particularly that of history's losers rather than victors, recording some of the last surviving members of the original Alacalufe and Yaghan tribes. A departure for Guzmán is that it does not focus solely on Chile's past under

Augusto Pinochet Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...

, as the title was partly inspired by a shirt button discovered during a 2004 investigation by Chilean judge Juan Guzmán on a length of rail used to weigh the bodies of Pinochet's victims dumped in the sea and partly by the button after which the Yaghan native

Jemmy Button Orundellico, known as "Jeremy Button" or "Jemmy Button" (c. 1815–1864), was a member of the Yaghan (or Yámana) people from islands around Tierra del Fuego, in modern Chile and Argentina. He was taken to England by Captain FitzRoy in HMS ''B ...

was named when taken aboard in 1830.

Summary

The film is a contemplative exploration of the geography and history of Chile, with a focus on water, which permeates the country and sustains its people. The narrative examines the fate of two persecuted groups - the indigenous peoples and the victims of Pinochet. The topics covered include the far north of Chile, which is the driest place on earth, where

radio telescopes A radio telescope is a specialized antenna and radio receiver used to detect radio waves from astronomical radio sources in the sky. Radio telescopes are the main observing instrument used in radio astronomy, which studies the radio frequency p ...

in the desert reveal new insights about the cosmos every day. The film also touches on personal experiences, such as a school friend lost to the sea. The narrative delves into the genocide of the native tribes in the far south and how their way of life was destroyed. It also shares the story of Jemmy Button, who was taken from

Tierra del Fuego Tierra del Fuego (, ; Spanish for "Land of the Fire", rarely also Fireland in English) is an archipelago off the southernmost tip of the South American mainland, across the Strait of Magellan. The archipelago consists of the main island, Isla ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. The film touches on the efforts made under Allende to rehabilitate the surviving tribespeople and the concentration camps established under Pinochet. It depicts how inmates were tortured and their bodies, weighted with lengths of rail, were dropped from helicopters into the Pacific. The film reveals how one corpse was washed ashore, and how one of the lengths of rail recovered from the sea had a mother-of-pearl shirt button encrusted to it. Overall, the film provides a powerful meditation on the impact of historical events on individuals and communities.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Pearl Button, The 2015 films 2015 documentary films Chilean documentary films 2010s Spanish-language films Films directed by Patricio Guzmán Documentary films about historical events History of Magallanes Region Genocide of indigenous peoples of South America Yaghan Documentary films about indigenous rights Documentary films about Latin America Kawésqar