FILM 11. The Cordillera of Dreams, dir. Patricio Guzmán, 2019. (ALEXANDER STREET)

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https://search-alexanderstreet-com.offcampus.lib.washington.edu/view/work/bibliographic_entity%7Cvideo_work%7C4744515 Links to an external site.

The Cordillera of Dreams (Icarus Films, 2019). Documentary. Written and directed by Patricio Guzmán. 84 min.

Cast:

Jorge Baradit

Vicente Gajardo

Francisco Gazitúa

Javiera Parra

Pablo Salas

Awards:

Oeil D'Or Best Documentary Prize and Satori Critics Prize, Cannes Film Festival

Questions:

  1. What emotions are evoked in you by the initial images of the mountains?
  2. In what sense does the film portray the Andes as both protective and isolating?
  3. Interviewees in The Pearl Button claim that, despite having the longest coastline in the world, Chileans have failed to develop the resources of the sea. In this film, they point out that 80% of Chile consists of the Andes, but that the country has also failed to realize their potential. How do you explain this exclusive focus on the central valleys and agriculture, in a country that is mostly coastline and mountains?
  4. Why do you think that much of a documentary on the Andes focuses on the capitol city of Santiago?
  5. How does Guzmán describe his reactions to the city each time he has returned to visit Santiago?
  6. Comment on the irony that most inhabitants of Santiago mainly see the Andes when they are on the subway, i.e. they see the murals of the Andes that are on display there?
  7. How does Guzmán describe his personal experience of the coup? Do you think it’s significant that he has waited until now to speak on this subject in one of his films?
  8. Does it seem paradoxical for someone who has lived in exile for 48 years to have devoted his entire career to documenting Chile?
  9. What characters does Guzmán choose to represent the Andes in this documentary? How would you describe their personalities?
  10. In the case of the sculptors, Vicente Gajardo and Francisco Gazitúa, how would you describe their works?
  11. How does singer Javiera Parra (granddaughter of Violeta Parra) describe her personal experience of the coup?
  12. How does writer Jorge Baradoit describe the dictatorship’s attitude toward the Left? Why does he say that nothing has changed in Chile since the end of the dictatorship?
  13. What implicit commentary do the shots of copper trains make about private ownership of Chile’s riches, as exemplified by the Andes?
  14. To what extent can the five-decade career of Pablo Salas, the film-maker of street protests against Pinochet, be considered a continuation of Guzmán’s own truncated career in Chile?
  15. Comment on the balance achieved in this film between nature photography, interviews with artists, footage of artists at work, and clips of archival film footage.
  16. How does the overall tone of this film compare to that of Nostalgia for the Light (and, if you have seen it, The Pearl Button)?

17. Guzmán has said that his next films project is about the widespread popular movement that developed in Chile in 2019-20, the so-called Estallido Social. (Social Uprising)  He describes this movement as the first true attempt to reconstruct  Chile since the coup. In what sense would this next film provide a bookmark for Guzmán’s 50-year career, which began with The Battle of Chile?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%80%932020_Chilean_protests

https://sites.tufts.edu/praxis/2020/02/06/the-2019-2020-chilean-protests/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/25/world/americas/chile-constitution-plebiscite.html

 

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