The concept that if we look into space, we look back in time has long fascinated me.
I tried to explain it to my daughter as I was watching a preview DVD of Patricio Guzman's film.
"When you look at the sun, you are seeing what happened eight minutes ago, '' I said, matter of factly.
"I don't get it, '' she replied.
Her face was even more blank when I suggested that we don't see stars live - we are looking at what happened many years ago.
Guzman is fascinated by the stars but he is also an authority on the atrocities in Chile after the military coup in the 1970s.
It sounds unlikely that these two subjects could be successfully intertwined in a film yet Nostalgia For The Light is evidence that they can be.
Chileans, it turns out, have a passion for astronomy. This may be derived from the fact that it is the least humid place on earth and, therefore, you can see the stars from there more clearly than anywhere.
The Atacama Desert is dotted with huge installations which house the world's most powerful telescopes.
However, it is also the place where Pinochet's henchmen buried their opponents.
Thus, there is a powerful juxtaposition of the scientists searching the stars and the old women who still scrape through the nearby sands trying to find the remains of their loved ones.
Nostalgia For The Light tells their dispassionate stories of how relatives disappeared, never to be seen again.
Bones of hundreds have been found and lie in boxes in storage.
These stories are combined with dazzling pictures from the heavens, caught by these phenomenal telescopes.
Chileans believe these images give perspective on the years of brutality in their country. At least, they believe, it shows that it is but a very small part of the overall scheme of things.
But the thought that telescope can look back in time still nags.
A woman whose brother was among those who disappeared says she will not rest until he is found.
If the telescopes can turn back time in the sky, she says, why can't they be turned on the earth and turn back time here. Then she would know where he is.
Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: None
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 7/10
Nostalgia For The Light can be seen at the Prince Charles Cinema in Leicester Square on February 2.
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