Iluminados Por El Fuego
Encyclopedia
Blessed by Fire (2005
) is an Argentine
film
about the Falklands War
written and directed by Tristán Bauer
. The film features Gastón Pauls
, Pablo Ribba, César Albarracín and Hugo Carrizo among others. It is based on a book written by a veteran of the war.
The film was nominated for 22 awards and won 14 of them.
films such as Full Metal Jacket
and Coming Home, Blessed By Fire is the story of two young men who were sent to fight the 1982 war
in the Falkland Islands (or as they are known in Argentina, the Malvinas) and who return home bearing the brutal scars of war.
Twenty years after the war's end, journalist Esteban Leguizamón (Gastón Pauls) is informed that Alberto Vargas (Pablo Ribba), 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 (Pablo Ribba, the man in the coma) and Juan (Cesar Albarracin), 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.
The film was shown on the Australian TV channel SBS
on March 17, 2009.
2005 in film
- Highest-grossing films :Please note that following the tradition of the English-language film industry, these are the top-grossing films that were first released in the United States in 2005...
) is an Argentine
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
about the Falklands War
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
written and directed by Tristán Bauer
Tristán Bauer
Tristán Bauer is an Argentine film maker and screenwriter. His work has received several international awards, particularly for his films Iluminados por el fuego , Después de la tormenta and Cortázar .Bauer serves, from 2007 as the director of the Public Media System of...
. The film features Gastón Pauls
Gastón Pauls
Gaston Pauls is an Argentina actor, TV host and producer. He started his career on television as a host of a videoclip show before starring in the teen soap opera Montaña Rusa, where he met Nancy Duplaa whom he dated for a few years...
, Pablo Ribba, César Albarracín and Hugo Carrizo among others. It is based on a book written by a veteran of the war.
The film was nominated for 22 awards and won 14 of them.
Plot
A powerful Argentine anti-war film in the tradition of American Vietnam warVietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
films such as Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket
Full Metal Jacket is a 1987 war film produced and directed by Stanley Kubrick. It is an adaptation of the 1979 novel The Short-Timers by Gustav Hasford and stars Matthew Modine, Vincent D'Onofrio, R. Lee Ermey, Arliss Howard and Adam Baldwin. The film follows a platoon of U.S...
and Coming Home, Blessed By Fire is the story of two young men who were sent to fight the 1982 war
Falklands War
The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...
in the Falkland Islands (or as they are known in Argentina, the Malvinas) and who return home bearing the brutal scars of war.
Twenty years after the war's end, journalist Esteban Leguizamón (Gastón Pauls) is informed that Alberto Vargas (Pablo Ribba), 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 (Pablo Ribba, the man in the coma) and Juan (Cesar Albarracin), 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
- Gastón PaulsGastón PaulsGaston Pauls is an Argentina actor, TV host and producer. He started his career on television as a host of a videoclip show before starring in the teen soap opera Montaña Rusa, where he met Nancy Duplaa whom he dated for a few years...
as Esteban Leguizamón - Pablo Ribba as Alberto Vargas
- César Albarracín as Juan Chamorro
- Victor Hugo Carrizo as Pizarro
- Virginia Innocenti as Maria Vargas
- Juan Leyrado
- Arturo Bonín
Release and relevance
Controversial in its homeland and politically relevant in the United States, Blessed By Fire is a moving tribute to the veterans of all wars and the psychological burdens they bear.The film was shown on the Australian TV channel SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
on March 17, 2009.
Awards
Silver Condor: Graciela Fraguglia, Alejandro Brodersohn, Tristán Bauer, Edgardo Esteban, Miguel Bonasso, Gustavo Romero Borri, Virginia Innocenti.External links
- Iluminados por el fuego at the cinenacional.comCinenacional.comCinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema.The site provides a vast array of information, including: films, television programs, directors, actors, cinematographers, film editors, production designers, and other production professions in Argentina...