Iluminados por el fuego (2005)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Tristán Bauer

Writers:

Tristán Bauer (writer)
Miguel Bonasso (writer)

Release Date:

8 September 2005 (Argentina)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | War

Plot:

The suicide of an old soldier buddy brings up some old memories for an Argentinian man.

Plot Keywords:

Argentina | Journalist | Hospital | Falkland Islands | Memory

Awards:

14 wins & 8 nominations

Cast

Gastón Pauls	...	Esteban Leguizamón
Pablo Riva	...	Alberto Vargas
César Albarracín	...	Juan Chamorro
Víctor Hugo Carrizo	...	Pizarro
Virginia Innocenti	...	Marta / Maria Vargas
Juan Leyrado
Arturo Bonín
Jon Lucas	...	Doblajes
Mario Chaparro
Tony Lestingi
Carlos Garmendia	...	Doblaje
Lautaro Delgado
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Miguel Oscar Acuna
Marcos Damian Alias
Gabriel Casal
Nestor Cordoba
Juan De Lima
Mauro Espinoza
Gabriel Fernandez
Guillermo Flores
Leonardo Mendietta
Claudio Pereyra
Ronald Reagan	...	Himself (archive footage)
Julio Roberto Rios
Tony Smith
René Soto
Margaret Thatcher	...	Herself (archive footage)
Damian Valdez
Esteban Vera
Eduardo Villalba

Also Known As:

Blessed by Fire (USA) (festival title)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

Argentina | Spain

Language:

English | Spanish

Color:

Black and White | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | New Zealand:R13

Filming Locations:

Buenos Aires, Federal District, Argentina

Company:

Canal+ España

Trivia:

Leguizamón mentions that over 290 veterans had committed suicide after the war, and indicates that this is the same as the name number of casualties there during the war. Argentine casualties during the war totalled 649, of which 321 were killed when the Admiral Belgrano was sunk. If Leguizamón was counting only the casualties on the Falklands themselves, his figure is roughly correct. Source: Wikipedia

Goofs:

Continuity: The sweat patterns on Leguizamón's jacket change in the two shots immediately after he leaves the infirmary.

Malvinas war, 1982

The first real movie about Malvinas war, relating the cruel way the incompetent heads of the Argentinian army sent those boys to a war they didn't want. And the movie gets short telling the real story, which was worst than it appears here. Frozen, hungry boys, fighting a war for keeping in their throne the decadent military government. Extrictly the movie is very good. Gaston Pauls confirm his great moment, and the moods and language of the Argentinean military men is very well exposed. 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 the expectation 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 unprepared equipment. Iluminados por el fuego is a documentary film for all Argentineans, but a testimony of the useless suffering of our soldiers. Don't expect an action war film, as "saving private Ryan". This is no action, is real life, and it hurts.