Iluminados pelo Fogo

Iluminados Por El Fuego is a cruel and real story about a tragic war between Argentina and Great Britain, struggling for the Islas Malvinas in the South Atlantic. That was decided by Argentinean Military Government in 1982 in order to gain popularity among citizens trying to distract attention in a moment where Argentina was close to a civil war. Any strategic or tactic analysis of that tragic war will explain all the mistakes that put Argentina in disadvantage to win the war, but the movie itself shows the cruel reality that lived the 17 and 18 year old recruit soldiers, today still suffering war veterans. Iluminados Por El Fuego shows perfectly how the boys (because the were just boys) lived a war they didn't ask for, suffered a war they were not ready to face or fight, with almost no food, no weapons and no training. The movie shows how the boys of war became today's suffering veterans struggling to survive with no help, trying to live alone in a country that seems to be ignorant to the terrible reality they lived. Iluminados Por El Fuego is, 23 years after the war, the very first real important Movie about Malvinas War, a clear example of how human life can be so cheap.

The first real movie about Malvinas war, telling the cruel way the incompetent heads of the Argentinian army sent those boys to a war they didn't want to go. And the movie is short telling the real story, which was worst than it is depicted here. Frozen, hungry boys, fighting a war for keeping in their throne the decadent military government. Acting is of good standard. Gaston Pauls confirm his great moment, and the moods and language of the Argentinean military men is very well depicted. The war scenes are not so good, but you can feel the frozen wind in your feet when the soldiers are waiting for the enemy. No love to motherland, no hating the enemy, only waiting for an early ending, and back home to mom, girlfriend, and family. No special effects, no needing of it. You get involved with the characters, in a very special way. The storytelling is quite slow, but accordingly with the interminable waiting for the enemy, in that frozen tundra, with inadequate equipment. Iluminados por el fuego is not a documentary film for those interested in history, but a testimony of the useless suffering of those soldiers. Don't expect CGI and special effects as in "Saving Private Ryan". This is real life, and it hurts.

Not many war films are made about the terrors of the Falkland, or Malvinas, war. Neither are war films as poignant and thought-provoking as Blessed by Fire.

War films are so regularly hybrid with other genres, whether its romance, politics, bravery, historical drama, art, or even comedy. This can make them entertaining, such as Apocalypse Now, or silly, like Pearl Harbour. Done to make more sales, make a political statement, to boast a big budget or glamorise real warfare, it's always a gamble if the war film is worth watching.

I was pleased to have come across Blessed by Fire. I hadn't heard much about it but I was interested in watching a movie about the Falklands War. It's told from the Argentine perspective and based on the memoirs of the soldier, Esteban Leguizamón, played by Gastón Pauls. Twenty years after the war, Leguizamón is contacted to visit his old comrade Alberto Vargas (Pablo Ribba) who is in a coma after attempted suicide. Through flashbacks and newsreels, Leguizamón remembers the ill-treatment by superiors, how his friends would talk of their futures, families and livelihoods, their fear of the invading British armies, and the dank conditions they were living in. It also touches on the neglect soldiers face after the war from their government – bad pensions and no career options. What it does magnificently is touch on the mental horrors of war - the anger and psychological scars that war causes – and without a glamorisation in sight. Another political issue it touches on at the end is the live mines and rusting ammunition left over beautiful landscapes, and how nothing has been done to get rid of them. The political slant against Maggie Thatcher and her reasons for war are thrown in there – whether it's for good measure, I'm unsure. But the result of the war has tarnished political relations between Britain and Argentina for many years, and it is a sensitive issue, particularly for Argentineans.

It was a film made on a budget, so some of the acting is slightly amateur – but believable. The special affects are okay, but in moments of excitement, the lighting doesn't always make it clear what is going on. However, the sets are gloomy enough to be realistic and the photography of the Falklands is fantastic.

It's a symbol of what war is really about. Not the most exciting. But realism and heroism, without glamour. I give this film 9!

Iluminados por el fuego shows a reality that has been forgotten for many years in Argentina. A military Government that should be over is trying to continue in power trough an unforgivable sin. The blood of the young conscripts.

It's unbelievable that the Argentinian society was blinded of the truth of what happened.

Argentina will recover the islands, i have no doubt of it, but only when the people finally understand what happened and why it happened

As a message to the world, for a war that should never happen, please, see this movie.

I have purchased some films about war in the Falklands, which occured back in 1982, and most of those movies were British, so told from the winners' side, not the losers' one. So far as I know, that's the only Argentinian movie speaking of this trauma. The equivalent of what Nam war was for the USA. So, this is a rare document that deserves to be watched, and very closely. This is an awesome piece of work, realistic, gripping, depressing. In short a true masterpiece helped by some footage stuff, easy to get. I hope there will be the same about war in Ukraine and made from the Russian side, if possible without any propaganda.... Which I unfortunately doubt. But here, that's just a document, jaw dropping material, I repeat, very hard to get.