A 3,000-year-old stone is the first image of "The Pearl Button." Our narrator lets us know that this stone, which we examine from all the possible angles, contains just one drop of water. That drop of water, he later tells us contains universes. Life emanates from the image, emphasizing the passage of time and the persistence of memory. What has this stone been through? What has that drop of water seen?

This opening image sets the stage for what amounts to meditative reflection on Chile's violent history.

The opening sections of the film, with lengthy images of the ocean, glaciers and other marvels of nature place the audience into ruminations on what water is and its significance to the people of the region. We are told of the natives that lived with the water, never fearing it, always loving it. One of the people interviewed in the documentary explains that the natives had no word for "God" or "Police" in their native tongue; there simply is no need in a world where nature governs and creates.

For the first half hour, the documentary explores this world at peace with nature. We see an artist unveil a piece of art representing Chile's vast geography. We see images of the natives as great artists themselves, using their own bodies as canvases. One interviewee sings the sounds of the water and another recounts a story in indigenous language. Macro images of rain drops suggest this buzzing and vibrant life filled with so much peace and harmony.

At the halfway mark of the film, the theme changes and the meditative feel of the opening half-hour turns into a more conversation piece on the violence that would ensue; an Eden ransacked of its identity never to recover it again. At the center of this story is a native known as Jemmy Button who traded his life for a pearl button and was taken to Europe where he learned the customs of the conquerors. Eventually he returned home, but he remained an exile, the archetypal native who was stripped of his identity and never able to recover it even when he was returned to his land.

Then the story shifts to the more recent violent past under the Augusto Pinochet. Here director Patricio Guzman unpacks some of the most horrifying moments of the Pinochet era with torture methods explicitly showcased and prisoners of the dictatorship questioned about the length of their captivity. At one point there is a reference of how a body was packed in paper bags and potato sacs while being injected with chemicals before being thrown into the ocean aboard a helicopter.

It is in this second half where this peaceful sea, once the protector of a culture becomes the cemetery of a culture, preserving the lost lives in its depths. The idea of memory returns, with questions about all the mysteries that the ocean holds and keeps from public eye.

"The Pearl Button" offers the viewer a panoramic view of Chile's violent history at a slow pace that really allows the director to unpack the issue on a metaphysical level. The interviews not only provide context but also color, allowing the viewer to not only understand the world but feel a part of it. At 82 minutes this is a refreshing approach to filmmaking that keeps the viewer entranced and emotionally riveted.