''Blessed by Fire'' ( es, Iluminados por el fuego) is a 2005

Argentine Argentines (mistakenly translated Argentineans in the past; in Spanish (masculine) or (feminine)) are people identified with the country of Argentina. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Argentines, s ...

war drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...

co-written and directed by

Tristán Bauer Tristán Bauer (born 22 June 1959) is an Argentine film maker, screenwriter and politician. Since 10 December 2019, he has been Argentina's Minister of Culture in the cabinet of President Alberto Fernández. He breakout film was the 1991 drama ' ...

. The film features

Gastón Pauls Gastón Pauls (born January 17, 1972) is an Argentine actor, TV host and producer. Biography Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Pauls comes from a family of artists. His mother was a painter, his father a film producer, and his paternal grandp ...

, Pablo Ribba and

Juan Leyrado Juan Carlos Leyrado Ravecca (born August 18, 1951) is an Argentine actor. He took part in the incredibly successful 2012 Argentine telenovela ''Graduados''. Works Television * Yosi, the Regretful Spy * Educando a Nina * El maestro * Un gallo ...

. The story centers on the

Falklands War The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...

and it is based on the homonymous book written by

Edgardo Esteban Edgardo is an Italian-language form of the name Edgar. It may refer to: * Edgardo Abdala (born 1978), Chilean-Palestinian football midfielder *Edgardo Adinolfi (born 1974), Uruguayan football player *Edgardo Alfonzo (born 1973), former Major Leag ...

, a veteran of the conflict.

Plot summary

The story centers on two young men who are sent to fight the 1982 war in the

Malvinas The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouzet ...

and who return home bearing the brutal scars of war. Twenty years after the war's end, journalist Esteban Leguizamón is informed that Alberto Vargas, one of the men he served with, has attempted suicide after suffering from years of depression brought on by his experiences in the war. Esteban visits the comatose Vargas at the hospital, and in a series of extended flashbacks, revisits the scene of Argentina's "unwinnable war." The film depicts Esteban and fellow soldiers Vargas and Juan, who are living in foxholes on the remote, windswept Falklands, battling hunger, boredom, abuse, and the deprivations of war as they await the arrival of British forces. A series of harrowing battle scenes with British forces ensues, and the Argentines realise the futility and violence of their mission. They are cannon fodder, pawns in a futile political game. Back in the present, Esteban returns to the Falklands to come to terms with himself and the past. The emotional final scenes were shot on location in the Falklands, for the first time in Argentine film. As Esteban looks over the still off-limits battlefields filled with mines, live ammunition, and rusting military equipment, the futility of war is abundantly clear.

Cast

as Esteban Leguizamón * Pablo Ribba as Alberto Vargas *

César Albarracín Cesar, César or Cèsar may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * César (film), ''César'' (film), a 1936 film directed by Marcel Pagnol * César (film), ''César'' (play), a play by Marcel Pagnolt * César Award, a French film award Pla ...

as Juan Chamorro * Victor Hugo Carrizo as Pizarro *

Virginia Innocenti Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...

as Maria Vargas *

Arturo Bonín Arturo José Bonini (11 November 1943 – 15 March 2022), better known as Arturo Bonín, was an Argentine actor. Biography Although he was born in the porteño neighborhood of Villa Urquiza, he lived his childhood and youth in Villa Ballest ...

Release

The film was shown on the Australian TV channel SBS on March 17, 2009.

Awards

Silver Condor: Graciela Fraguglia, Alejandro Brodersohn, Tristán Bauer, Edgardo Esteban, Miguel Bonasso, Gustavo Romero Borri, Virginia Innocenti.

References

External links

* *
''Iluminados por el fuego''
at the

cinenacional.com Cinenacional.com is a web portal and World Wide Web, web-based database about Cinema of Argentina, Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, tel ...

{{Authority control 2000s war drama films 2005 films Anti-war films Argentine war drama films Falklands War films Films about journalists Films about suicide Films based on non-fiction books Films set in Argentina Films about hunters Nonlinear narrative films Films about post-traumatic stress disorder Spanish war drama films 2000s Spanish-language films 2000s political drama films 2000s buddy films 2005 drama films 2000s Spanish films 2000s Argentine films