Blessed by Fire

2005
6.7| 1h40m| NA| en| More Info
Released: 21 February 2007 Released
Producted By: Canal+
Country:
Budget: 0
Revenue: 0
Official Website:
Info

Argentine film about the experiences of conscripts in the Falklands War.

Genre

Drama, War

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Blessed by Fire (2005) is currently not available on any services.

Director

Tristán Bauer

Production Companies

Canal+

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Blessed by Fire Audience Reviews

ThiefHott Too much of everything
Evengyny Thanks for the memories!
Beanbioca As Good As It Gets
Megamind To all those who have watched it: I hope you enjoyed it as much as I do.
ma-cortes When Alberto Vargas (Pablo Riva) tried to commit suicide , this brings up his old soldier buddy called Esteban Leguizamón (Gaston Pauls) some old records . As Vargas attempted to commit suicide after suffering from years of depression brought on by his experiences in the war , as 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 . As Esteban returns to Falklands islands where took place Guerra De las Malvinas, also known as the Falklands Conflict, Falklands Crisis and the Guerra del Atlántico Sur , Spanish for "South Atlantic War" .It's a good film, a cool Argentina/Spain co-production recreating the shortages of a group of Argentinian soldiers in Las Malvinas , the offensive by British navy and what happened during those desperate days . Stirring images by means of flashbacks accompanied with roaring battle scenes . The making was a logistical problem as almost that of setting up a campaign and putting a film together under any circumstances was very difficult because working under pretty bad conditions. This thought-provoking film is not a total description of such an important war but it is a context in which the battle offers the concrete development , life and death , a few men who are mistreated by a sergeant , suffering pains , starving and many other things . It's well recreated by the director Tristan Bauer , but adding shoot footage . Good acting by the main actor , Gaston Pauls as an Argentinian man who brings up old memories . He was born in Buenos Aires City , Distrito Federal, Argentina and is a nice actor and producer, known for Nueve Reinas (2000), and Felicidades (2000) and this Iluminados Por el Fuego (2005) or Blessed of fire .The motion picture was rightly based on real events , though the characters are fictitious, those are the following : Guerra de Malvinas was a ten-week war between Argentina and the United Kingdom over two British overseas territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands . There the Argentine casualties during the war totalled 649, of which 321 were killed when the General Belgrano was sunk . It began on Friday 2 April 1982 when Argentina invaded and occupied the Falkland Islands in an attempt to establish the sovereignty it has long claimed over them. On 5 April, the British government dispatched a naval task force to engage the Argentine Navy and Air Force before making an amphibious assault on the islands. The conflict lasted 74 days and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982, returning the islands to British control. 649 Argentine military personnel, 255 British military personnel and 3 Falkland Islanders died during the hostilities. The conflict was a major episode in the protracted historical confrontation over the territories' sovereignty. Argentina has asserted and maintains that the islands have been Argentinian territory since the 19th century and, as such, the Argentine government characterised their action as the reclamation of their own territory. The British government saw it as an invasion of territory that has been British also since the 19th century. Neither state, however, officially declared war and hostilities were almost exclusively limited to the territories under dispute and the area of the South Atlantic where they lie. The conflict has had a strong impact in both countries and has been the subject of various books, articles, films and songs. Patriotic sentiment ran high in Argentina, but the outcome prompted large protests against the ruling military government, hastening its downfall. In the United Kingdom, the Conservative Party government, bolstered by the successful outcome, was re-elected the following year. The cultural and political weight of the conflict has had less effect in Britain than in Argentina, where it remains a ready topic for discussion. Relations between the United Kingdom and Argentina were restored in 1989 following a meeting in Madrid, Spain, at which the two countries' governments issued a joint statement. No change in either country's position as regards the sovereignty of the Falkland Islands was made explicit. In 1994, Argentina's claim to the territories was added to its constitution.
runamokprods I fall between those critics who see this as a near masterpiece, and those who dismiss it as overly familiar and done better before.An intense, fascinating look at the Falklands war, from the Argentinean soldier's POV, it begins with the attempted suicide of an ex-solider, which throws his war-time buddy into remembrances of the hell these men endured.While the war may have seemed a silly little flare up about a bunch of rocks to most of the world, to the Argentinean draftees who lost their lives their limbs and their sanity in a futile, under equipped attempt to hold off a wildly more powerful British force was as real to them as Vietnam or Iraq or the coast of Normandy was to the men who suffered and died there. \Indeed, through this film's eyes it was worse, because it was an absolutely pointless and quickly forgotten war, drummed up by the generals back home as a nationalistic exercise to take the country's mind off its faltering economy, And then, in the ultimate ignominy, the men are sworn to silence about their defeat (and, presumably, abusive treatment by their own officers). Any war where more of the soldiers die of suicide in the years after than on the battlefield itself is indeed worth examining. The film succeeds in capturing the horror, confusion, and fear, although it doesn't quite get under the skins of the characters enough to make us understand on a visceral level. I was never bored, but nowhere near as deeply moved as I wish I had been. Still, I would have rated this higher except for a stumble in the very last seconds of the film, where suddenly a burst of sentimentality and latent nationalism in the form respectively of a pop song, and a last screen graphic made me question if I had been giving the film too much credit for having an enlightened point of view.
Vargas In short: one-dimensional characters, not good actors, more a propaganda against this particular war than a real movie. Young conscripts portrayed as innocent boys who only want to play football, NCO's and CO's portrayed as sadistic, lazy, cowards, etc. It might be right, I know, but, come on! not only every war movie but every human group has good and bad persons in it (CO's, NCO's and draftees in this case). As a political opinion it might have some kind of worth but as a war movie, and a movie in general is real bad and underestimates the audience. The director is not bad, take a look to Cortázar http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109485/
nicholas-rogers Not many war films are made about the terrors of the Falkland, or Malvinas, war. Neither are war films as poignant and thought-provoking as Blessed by Fire.War films are so regularly hybrid with other genres, whether its romance, politics, bravery, historical drama, art, or even comedy. This can make them entertaining, such as Apocalypse Now, or silly, like Pearl Harbour. Done to make more sales, make a political statement, to boast a big budget or glamorise real warfare, it's always a gamble if the war film is worth watching.I was pleased to have come across Blessed by Fire. I hadn't heard much about it but I was interested in watching a movie about the Falklands War. It's told from the Argentine perspective and based on the memoirs of the soldier, Esteban Leguizamón, played by Gastón Pauls. Twenty years after the war, Leguizamón is contacted to visit his old comrade Alberto Vargas (Pablo Ribba) who is in a coma after attempted suicide. Through flashbacks and newsreels, Leguizamón remembers the ill-treatment by superiors, how his friends would talk of their futures, families and livelihoods, their fear of the invading British armies, and the dank conditions they were living in. It also touches on the neglect soldiers face after the war from their government – bad pensions and no career options. What it does magnificently is touch on the mental horrors of war - the anger and psychological scars that war causes – and without a glamorisation in sight. Another political issue it touches on at the end is the live mines and rusting ammunition left over beautiful landscapes, and how nothing has been done to get rid of them. The political slant against Maggie Thatcher and her reasons for war are thrown in there – whether it's for good measure, I'm unsure. But the result of the war has tarnished political relations between Britain and Argentina for many years, and it is a sensitive issue, particularly for Argentineans.It was a film made on a budget, so some of the acting is slightly amateur – but believable. The special affects are okay, but in moments of excitement, the lighting doesn't always make it clear what is going on. However, the sets are gloomy enough to be realistic and the photography of the Falklands is fantastic.It's a symbol of what war is really about. Not the most exciting. But realism and heroism, without glamour. I give this film 9!