The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		4.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		3.0
Overall		4.0

The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Brian Orndorf March 7, 2016

Writer/director Patricio Guzman has built a career inspecting Chilean woes and bruised history, with special attention to the years ruled by dictator Augusto Pinochet, whose violent reign still reverberates in the country today. The helmer returns to duty with “The Pearl Button,” a companion piece to his 2010 documentary, “Nostalgia for the Light,” with focus now put on water and its special relationship with Chile. Guzman doesn’t possess the strongest directorial focus, but his passion is unmistakable, leading audiences on a journey from a tiny droplet to the outer reaches of the galaxy, in search of sanity and order.

“The Pearl Button” is ambitious, trying to braid examinations of the natural world and political barbarity into a single flow of information and enlightenment. Guzman arrives prepared, armed with stellar footage of Chile’s aquatic resources and surroundings, and interviewees share powerful memories of Pinochet’s cruelty and the very transformation of the country, where indigenous people were forced out of their lives to make way for missionaries and settlers, killed off by disease and relocation, losing touch with nature.

The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

The AVC encoded image (1.78:1 aspect ratio) presentation gives the HD-shot production a crisp home on Blu-ray. Weaving through location visits and interview footage (some captured in SD), detail is superb, delivering the particulars of aging during close-ups, providing a textured appreciation for the subjects and the natural world, which also comes through clearly. Colors are appropriate throughout, with tasteful hues supplying an understanding of geological position and everyday wear during human conversations. Delineation is fresh and true. Some banding is detected.

The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix is generally quite good about preserving expanse, finding visits to nature and space pushing out into the surrounds, enveloping the listener with atmospheric details, including weather patterns and flowing water. Interview segments are clear and full, delivering emotional and academic tones. Low-end has a few highlights with ice shelf rumbling and airplane fly-bys.

The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Booklet (14 pages) contains an essay by Eric Hynes.

• "Encounters" (35:05, SD) is a companion piece to "The Pearl Button," collecting deleted interviews with scholars and witnesses, filling out ecological and political discussions.

• And a Theatrical Trailer (1:46, HD) is included.

The Pearl Button Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

The Pinochet material is deeply troubling, exploring the dictator's desire to kill undesirables by tying pieces of railroad track to victims, drowning them in the ocean. "The Pearl Button" doesn't ever find true balance between the stories, but the disparate sides are fascinating on their own, offering an education with emphasis on awe, making a very specific connection between life and death with impressive sincerity, striking cinematography, and a cultural viewpoint that's fully formed and ready to be shared.