Arquivo / 49ª mostra

Pirates and Treasures. Good and evil. Just as in a children’ story, to tell the events is the true treasure. The fantastic is part of life and of cinema. Strange physical anomalies, undecipherable manuscripts, one-eyed guards. A boy pure in heart, partial to freedom of thought, is confronted with social pressure to get rich at any cost. A group of blind children trying to convert unbelievers to the power of the Christian faith. A brothel of old nuns who resort to prostitution to pay the rent. Contradictions and irony that make this fairy tale into a kind of philosophical fable. However, director Raoul Ruiz reminds us that his film is closely related to reality: at the start of the century, Ricardo Latcham, a boy age 20, a mere employee of the Chile National Library, was hired by a treasure hunter. Together they went to the north of the country, to Guayacam, where they became involved in fabulous adventures.