''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, ...

war drama film co-written and directed by Tristán Bauer. 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 grandpa ...

, 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 ...

and it is based on the homonymous book written by Edgardo Esteban, 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 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 as Juan Chamorro * Victor Hugo Carrizo as Pizarro * Virginia Innocenti as Maria Vargas *

* Arturo Bonín

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

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''Iluminados por el fuego''
at the cinenacional.com {{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