Italian forensic scientist Cristina Cattaneo is a prolific email writer. She does so to appeal for support for a project that aims to identify the names of those who remain unidentified and lie in state in morgues. She encounters bodies of unknown origin, victims of social blind spots like the homeless and destitute, as well as refugees who attempted to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe. These anonymous, unidentified deaths vividly reveal the limitations and crises of modern nation-states. As evident from the institutions across Europe turning a blind eye to Christina's plea, it's because basic human rights are neither guaranteed nor present for these non-citizen individuals. The co-directors capture Christina's determined face through graceful editing, delicate music, and camera work that evokes a legal drama, almost as if they were portraying a legal-themed drama. Through close-ups of Christina, they achieve more than just singling out or emphasizing the protagonist. Paradoxically, they reinvigorate the existence of other protagonists within this work, individuals who can only be represented through traces left behind on the coastline or buried underground, individuals whose faces can never be shown. The tension between close-ups and traces in Pure Unknown appeals for action on behalf of those who have lost their identity and are denied even the minimum dignity. It serves as a warning. What kind of future awaits a society that can't even accomplish that?