Blessed by Fire

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Although it won ?Best Film? at the 2005 Havana 
Film Festival, I was a bit wary of ?Blessed by 
Fire? (Illuminados por el Fuego). Billed as an 
antiwar film based on the novel/memoir of Edgardo 
Esteban, a veteran of the Malvinas war in 1982, I 
wondered if it would portray this ill-fated 
attempt of the Argentineans to wrest control of 
their territory as a reactionary adventure on the 
part of the military government designed to 
deflect attention from the nation?s economic 
woes. Although this was certainly part of the 
motivation, history would record that this has 
been a burning issue for Argentina going back 
more than 100 years, whatever the character of the government in power.

The character based on the author is named 
Edgardo Leguizamón (Gastón Pauls), an 18 year 
old?like Esteban himself?who sent off to fight in 
the Malvinas. The film begins with him being 
summoned to the hospital by the wife of Alberto 
Vargas (Pablo Ribba) a fellow soldier who has 
just attempted suicide with a mixture of pills, 
cocaine and booze. In a series of flashbacks to 
1982, we find out about the huge psychic toll the 
fighting took on the foot soldier. Esteban 
eventually made a career as a journalist, but 
Vargas went back to factory work after the war 
ended. Like most Argentine workers, this was like 
a continuation of battlefield stress. Instead of 
dodging British bullets, he dodged unemployment?often unsuccessfully.

full: http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2007/03/10/blessed-by-fire/