Andes Mountains
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The award-winning documentarian and an acclaimed Chilean filmmaker Patricio Guzman takes on in his new movie "The Cordillera of Dreams" which won best in the documentary film category during the Cannes Film Festival in 2019. The film will have its premiere in the United States on Wednesday at the IFC Center in New York City.

The documentary film of Guzman is based on a very historical event in Chile. This is a story behind the Andes Mountains, the world's longest cordillera, and about the victims of the late dictator Augusto Pinochet in his brutal leadership and the ongoing protests that are shaking Chile today.

The documentarian said in a voice-over in his new movie that if the rocks of the cordillera could speak, they would speak of the blood that ran over them. Guzman is referring to the paver stones that are found on the streets of Santiago. These stones are said to come from the Andes. 

During the time of Augusto Pinochet, he is a very well-known dictator in Chile where there were more than 40,000 people who were recorded as victims of human rights and 3,000 people were declared missing. In the 40,000 abused people, most of them were tortured.

In an interview, Guzman said that the Andes Mountains has protected and isolated Chile from the rest of the world. He said: "The cordillera is a wall, a natural border that surrounds Chile. Beyond it is the world. And just 100 kilometers west from the mountain range is the infinite ocean," he also told the NBC News through a phone interview that "So Chile has been created, born and developed differently from other countries in this narrow corridor. There is something very specific about the cordillera, the closure, the restricted language, the silence, and the inward mentality, that makes Chile different from other places."

The documentary film of Guzman is not only for entertainment purposes, but it is also to be used by students as a reference for Latin American history. Guzman is known for his three-part "Battle of Chile" where it talks about how people overthrew Chile's elected socialist president Salvador Allende in 1973.

The themes of Guzman in his films are memory and loss and this continues in his new documentary film. "The Cordillera of Dreams" is a must-watch movie most especially for people living in Latin America as it talks about how the past lives in the present and how it influences the younger generations of today.

He said that what happened in 1973 still lives today. Guzman said: "People are taking to the streets to sing hymns from the left that are over four decades old. It's like the country is waking up from a very long dream."   

Meanwhile, for the Chilean sculptor Francisco Gazitua he said: "A country that leaves 80 percent of its territory abandoned is not viable. This country must take care of its cordillera. It must take care of 80 percent of itself."

The Andes Mountains could be a natural barrier for cultures and countries but it could also speak about what lies or what are the stories behind it according to Guzman. Guzman said: "The cordillera is like all other mountains in the world. There are many different secrets hidden inside of it but while it has a geographic element, it also has a deeper spiritual element that can transform the mountains into a metaphor, a door or gateway into the dreams, history, food, and culture of Chile and other countries today."