The Pearl Button

The Pearl Button

NR 2015 · 82 min · ★ 6.9 · Documentary

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 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.

Directed by Patricio Guzmán · Written by Patricio Guzmán

Your Rating

Where to Watch

Streaming

Rent or Buy

Cast

Make it a double feature

2h 55m together

The Pearl Button

Nostalgia for the Light

Both from Patricio Guzmán.

More from Patricio GuzmánSee all →

Invocación

Invocación · 2000

MovieDramaDocumentary

The film reconstructs the modest process of filming a Super 8 action short by three 12-year-old friends in Buenos Aires during the spring of 1973. From there, a broader reconstruction unfolds, beginning, argumentatively, on the night of March 24, 1999.

Pueblo en vilo

Pueblo en vilo · 1995

MovieDocumentary

The Chilean documentary maker enters the small Mexican town of San José de Gracia, marked by its conservative spirit, following the book with which historian Luis González narrated a good part of the town's past and its strong involvement in the Cristero Wars.

The battle of Chile

The battle of Chile · 2008

The battle of Chile

On September 11, 1973, President Salvador Allende's democratically elected Chilean government was overthrown in a bloody coup by General Augusto Pinochet's army. Patricio Guzmán and five colleagues had been filming the political developments in Chile throughout the nine months leading up to that day. The bombing of the Presidential Palace, in which Allende died, would now become the ending for Guzmán's seminal documentary The Battle of Chile (1975-76), an epic chronicle of that country's open and peaceful socialist revolution, and of the violent counter-revolution against it. This four part series includes interviews with survivors and Patricio Guzman

Madrid

MovieDramaDocumentary

A charming and meditative ode to the city of Madrid, where Guzmán studied directing and filmmaking during the 1960s, and escaped to from Chile after the military coup. Traveling through the streets of contemporary Madrid, Guzmán’s essayistic film freely draws inspiration from the landmarks, the music, the people, and the culture to evoke experiences, reflections, and insights in order to relate the nature of his historical and personal connection to the city.

The Battle of Chile: Part III

The Battle of Chile: Part III · 1979

The Battle of Chile: Part III

MovieDocumentary

Guzmán’s final installment shifts from covering the actions of Allende’s opponents to those who battled to revive & promote their toppled leader’s vision for a new Chile.

The Battle of Chile: Part I

The Battle of Chile: Part I · 1975

The Battle of Chile: Part I

MovieDocumentaryHistory

The chronicle of the political tension in Chile in 1973 and of the violent counter revolution against the democratically elected government of Salvador Allende.

Nostalgia for the Light

Nostalgia for the Light · 2010

Nostalgia for the Light

MovieDocumentary

In Chile's Atacama Desert, astronomers peer deep into the cosmos in search for answers concerning the origins of life. Nearby, a group of women sift through the sand searching for body parts of loved ones, dumped unceremoniously by Pinochet's regime.

Chile: Obstinate Memory

Chile: Obstinate Memory · 1997

Chile: Obstinate Memory

MovieDocumentary

After decades of fascist rule in Chile, Patricio Guzmán returns to his country to screen his documentary The Battle of Chile.

The First Year

The First Year · 1972

MovieDocumentary

The documentary narrates the events that took place during the first year of the Unidad Popular government, in chronological order.

The Cordillera of Dreams

The Cordillera of Dreams · 2019

The Cordillera of Dreams

MovieDocumentary

"In Chile, when the sun rises, it had to climb hills, walls and tops before reaching the last stone of the Cordillera. In my country, the Cordillera is everywhere. But for the Chilean citizens, it is an unknown territory. After going North for Nostalgia for the Light and South for The Pearl Button, I now feel ready to shoot this immense spine to explore its mysteries, powerful revelations of Chile’s past and present history." Patricio Guzmán

The Pinochet Case

The Pinochet Case · 2001

The Pinochet Case

MovieDocumentary

True story of the saga that was hoped to be the long-awaited justice brought to bear upon Augosto Pinochet, Chilean dictator from 1973 to 1990. In September 1998, Pinochet flew to London on a pleasure trip but experienced back pain and underwent an operation in the London Clinic. Upon waking, he was arrested by Scotland Yard. Could it be that this was to become the first Latin American dictator to answer for crimes while serving as Head of State? After 500 days of house arrest, he nevertheless eventually returned unscathed to Chile, despite the compelling case built against him before & during this period by a young Spanish prosecutor, Carlos Castresana.

Robinson Crusoe Island

Robinson Crusoe Island · 1999

Robinson Crusoe Island

MovieDocumentary

A passionate fan of Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe as a 13-year-old boy, Guzmán was delighted to find in his adult years that the story is based on actual events & a real place in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, 700 kilometres from the Chilean coast. This moves him to film & construct a kind of ironic travel journal as he sets out to rediscover the island, all the while in constant play with the fields of history, literature & imagination.

La bataille du Chili

La bataille du Chili · 2000

La bataille du Chili

SeriesDocumentaryWar & Politics

Salvador Allende

Salvador Allende · 2004

Salvador Allende

MovieDocumentary

A leftist revolutionary or a reformist democrat? A committed Marxist or a constitutionalist politician? An ethical and moral man or, as Richard Nixon called him, a "son of a bitch"? In SALVADOR ALLENDE, acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzmán (The Battle of Chile and Chile, Obstinate Memory) returns to his native country thirty years after the 1973 military coup that overthrew Chile's Popular Unity government to examine the life of its leader, Salvador Allende, both as a politician and a man.

The Southern Cross

The Southern Cross · 1992

The Southern Cross

MovieDocumentary

Taking as a guiding theme of religion in Latin America, the film shows the pre-Columbian myths, the arrival of the white man, later syncretism and liberation theology. The main theme is the "popular religion". In Latin America this forms a kind of religious sacred territory where millions of Indians seeking refuge. This is repeated in Brazil, where African religions are another impenetrable territory, which also functions as a stronghold, a refuge.

My Imaginary Country

My Imaginary Country · 2022

My Imaginary Country

MovieDocumentary

This documentary explores the protests that exploded onto the streets of Chile’s capital of Santiago in 2019 as the population demanded more democracy and social equality around education, healthcare and job opportunities.

More Like This

Baraka

MovieDocumentary

A paralysingly beautiful documentary with a global vision—an odyssey through landscape and time—that attempts to capture the essence of life.

Rate this film

Your ratings make Midnight smarter