Une parfaite étrangeté

“Palomo”, “Ruperto” and “Palaye” are three donkeys that lead us on a trip to an automated Chilean observatory. Along the way we meet some of their fellow inhabitants of this wilderness including a fox and a beautifully elegant condor riding the thermals. As night falls, the array of telescopes open to the beauty of the pristine night sky (and we see a little of their internal workings) before the sun arrives again and our three amigos begin their descent back from whence they came. It’s quite a therapeutic watch this as very little actually happens and there’s no dialogue - no, not even any braying, to distract us from the peace and tranquility of their journey. What I felt was impressive was the fact that we could build (and power) these inquiring facilities high up in the middle of nowhere, but as to the purpose of this film I was a bit befuddled. It’s not really a documentary and it’s not really a natural history feature either. It’s more like watching a lava lamp set the spunds of hooves clicking and though I didn’t not enjoy it, I doubt I’d rush to watch it again.