As a filmmaker Patricio Guzmán's filmography has focused mostly on the political and social issues that have plagued Chile.

We next see Guzmán walking in the Atacama Desert, a place with absolutely no moisture, so much so that it resembles the surface of Mars.

Because of how dry it is, the desert hosts the untouched remains of fish, mollusks, Indian carvings, and even mummified humans.

Luís Henríquez, a survivor from the Chacabuco concentration camp, describes how a group of about 20, led by a Doctor Alvarez (who was knowledgeable in astronomy), were taught theory during the day and learned how to identify constellations at night.

They learned how to create a device that helped them track the constellations, and while they studied the cosmos they “all had a feeling of great freedom,”[3] as Henríquez describes it.

It was released in several other European countries subsequently, like Poland and Spain, and finally arrived in the US in select theaters on March 17, 2011.

These astronomers are able to look clearly up into the sky and observe the universe that surrounds us to try to understand the origins of the cosmos.

The Pinochet Military dictatorship detained and killed thousands of Chileans and later tried to conceal this act by erasing any evidence of its occurrence.

Women search zealously for the remains of those that they love so that they can gain some comfort and peace back in their lives.

In the documentary, Guzmán referred to Miguel and his wife Anita as a metaphor for Chile: one tries to remember his past and origins while the other forgets.

At the end of the film, Guzmán states that only those who understand their past are able to live in the present and look into the future.

Nonetheless, his “belief in eternal memory is an astounding leap of faith.”[13] Kenton Smith, from Uptown, reiterates a similar stance.

The documentary is praised for its stunning visuals and impressive views of the cosmos but despite the aesthetics, it evokes the idea that we, according to Smith, “concern ourselves with fleeting power and evil deeds, treating both as though they are more than mere smudges on a much larger blueprint.”[14] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times comments that the connections between the astronomers, archeologists, the Atacama, and the women who searched for their loved ones is the focus of the film.

[15] Amy Biancolli of the San Francisco Chronicle shares the notion that the documentary has stunning images.

The film engages us to take a journey that brings us throughout space, not only the cosmos but also the earth beneath our feet.

[19] In 2014, it was voted one of the 50 greatest documentaries of all time in the British Film Institute's poll in Sight & Sound.