The Pearl Button poster

Movie

The Pearl Button

2015NR1h 22m6.9 / 10

The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.

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Checked Sep 2, 2026

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Synopsis

The ocean contains the history of all humanity. The sea holds all the voices of the earth and those that come from outer space. Water receives impetus from the stars and transmits it to living creatures. Water, the longest border in Chile, also holds the secret of two mysterious buttons which were found on its ocean floor. Chile, with its 2,670 miles of coastline and the largest archipelago in the world, presents a supernatural landscape. In it are volcanoes, mountains and glaciers. In it are the voices of the Patagonian Indigenous people, the first English sailors and also those of its political prisoners. Some say that water has memory. This film shows that it also has a voice.

More about The Pearl Button

Cast

Patricio GuzmánNarrator (voice)
Martín G. CalderónSelf
Gabriela PateritoSelf
Gabriel SalazarSelf
Claudio MercadoSelf
Raúl ZuritaSelf
Cristina CalderónSelf
Adil BrkovicSelf

Credits

Directed by
Patricio Guzmán
Written by
Patricio Guzmán

Production details

Status
Released
Original language
Spanish
Original title
El botón de nácar

Production

  • France 3 CinémaFrance
  • Ciné+France
  • MediaproSpain
  • Atacama ProductionsFrance
  • Valdivia Film
  • Consejo Nacional de la Cultura y las ArtesChile

Themes

british colonialismbuttonchilecolonialismcolonisationconcentration campcultural genocidedictatorship