Chile’s tragic history through a film poet’s eyes

The concerns of Patricio Guzmán’s documentary “The Pearl Button” are political and philosophical, but the spirit is closer to poetry.

The latter became infamous for the political murders and other human rights abuses that took place during his rule.

[...] some indigenous peoples virtually lived on the water — skilled canoers who subsisted on shellfish and other bounty from the sea.

The European newcomers tried to impose their ways on the natives, but some whites had less patience — for a time, bounties were paid to the killers of native men, women and children.

Among the most harrowing segments of the film is a detailed look at how victims’ bodies were tied to lengths of railroad track, placed in bags and dropped into the sea from helicopters.

Many of the natural images Guzmán offers — bodies of water, glaciers, mountains — are wondrously beautiful.

The account of what happened to the natives is powerful, and the filmmaker’s narration is lyrical and haunting (and, it has to be admitted, occasionally strained).