Iluminados por el fuego

As I lived in the UK for a long time, I had mostly heard/seen about the Falklands War from a Briiths perspective. Tried to find a movie from the Argentine perspective, and this came up.

It shows the experience of three young recruits sent to the Falklands, cutting between their experiences there on the islands and back in modern day Argentina, as the suicide attempt of one of them reunites him with an old war buddy.

The film largely focuses on the futility of war, and how the soldiers do not want to be in this fight that they have no interest in, and where their own commanders mistreat them. The film doesn't try to make a political statement, it focuses on the human side of things.

It was very interesting to see this perspective, but the film was clearly done on a limited budget. I'd say the production values were of a cheap made for TV feature. But what lifted it up a bit was that there were some scenes actually filmed on the Falklands, which was interesting to see.

When the journalist Esteban Leguizamón (Gastón Pauls) receives a phone call from his acquaintance Marie, he goes to the hospital and finds that his former friend of the Malvinas War Alberto Vargas (Pablo Ribba) tried to commit suicide. Marie, who was married with Vargas, tells Esteban that the veteran Vargas has never recovered from the period he served in Islas Malvinas in 1982 and was extremely depressed in the last days. Esteban realizes that more than two hundred and ninety veterans from the war against the English troops had committed suicide and he recalls the tough period he fought in Malvinas with Vargas and Juan (Cesar Albarracin), reviving the ghost from his past and opening deep wounds he had forgotten.

In 1982, the Argentinean Military Government decided to send troops to retrieve the Islas Malvinas from England that occupied the islands in 1833. However the true intention of the military junta was to divert the Argentineans and increase their popularity, raising the sense of nationality with an ancient issue. The Argentinean soldiers were sent without the necessary supplies, suitable clothing, outfits and training, being easily defeated after two months of starvation, cold and fight against the British forces. "Iluminados Por el Fuego" shows the poor conditions of the Argentinean soldiers in Malvinas and the effect of this war in the young soldiers that survived the irresponsibility and cruelty of their leaders that decided to play of war, transforming them in psychologically destroyed men. Tristán Bauer certainly had a limited budget for the battles scenes, and he successfully uses a chaotic sequence to represent how these battles probably might have been. In the end, he gives a great anti-war message and states that the Isla Malvinas belong to the Argentinean people. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Iluminados Pelo Fogo" ("Lightened by Fire")

This epic movie is emotional and sad. Most war movies are about winners, but this one is exactly the opposite. I don't think that I have ever seen any movies made from Argentina, I hope that I can see more in the future.

Now, here are some of the problems of this movie. Some scenes seem to be too long, I lost a little interest in watching. For example, the night scene when they were running away from the British offense. There was no scenes about the British soldiers, so it seems as if they were just running away from nothing although it was quite bloody.

Scenes change from current time to the war time, it got a little confusing. Some of the scenes were too dark, i can't hardly see anything on my TV.

The condition which the soldiers have to live was horrible, if they had better equipment and food, they could have won the war. I feel sorry that Argentina lost this war. And it is probably interesting to see how each country calls that island. In China, that island is still named after the name Argentina uses.

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.

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.