''Blessed by Fire'' () is a 2005 Argentine-Spanish war drama film co-written and directed by Tristán Bauer. The film features Gastón Pauls, Pablo Ribba and Juan Leyrado. The story centers on the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

and it is based on the book of the same title 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

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; ), commonly referred to as The Falklands, is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and from Cape Dub ...

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

* Gastón Pauls 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

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

* *
''Iluminados por el fuego''
at the

cinenacional.com Cinenacional.com is a web portal and web-based database about Argentine cinema. It is the most comprehensive site for information about the Argentine film industry, with a vast array of information on films, television programs, directors, actor ...

{{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 hunting 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 Spanish-language war drama films