| BLESSED BY FIRE IIuminados por el fuego |
 2004 – Argentina / SpainDirector: Tristán Bauer
- Reviewed by Linda
Blessed by Fire follows Esteban (Gaston Pauls), a 40-year-old veteran of the war, who hears about the suicide attempt of his fellow comrade Vargas (Pablo Ribba). While visiting Vargas in the hospital, he flashes back to his memories of the war, and his bonding with comrades Vargas and Juan (Cesar Albarracin). The three young men are ill-prepared for the brutalities of war in the cold, rainy, and eternally muddy landscape of the treeless islands. It doesn't help that their superiors are brutal and cruel puppets of the government. After weeks of waiting, staring into the fog, freezing in their soggy combat gear, they are suddenly forced into combat... and these moments of the film are the most gripping. A 20-minute battle sequence takes place a night, with the flashing of bullets whizzing by, and the sharp thunk! of ammunition piercing the soldier's armor coming from all sides, making you want to cover your ears. Fast-forward to the present, and Esteban decides to finally return to the islands for closure, not only for himself, but for his fallen comrades. Blessed by Fire has power in its flashbacks, but what drags the film down is the "present day" 2001 scenes. The truth is, for an actor, playing terrified is probably pretty easy when re-enacting horrifying war scenes, but otherwise Gaston Pauls as Esteban doesn't have a heck of a lot of range. He is simply... dull. Is it only upon his return to the islands that he invokes some emotion, but I couldn't help but think the film would have been better if the modern scenes had more impact. DVD NOTESThe extras on the Blessed By Fire DVD are, alas, negligible. There is an original Argentinian trailer for the film, as well as a behind-the-scenes footage that is literally about as long as the trailer itself. Not much to see here folks. If you want any additional historical or cultural perspective on the conflict, you're going to have to Google it. |
Agree? Disagree? Go to the Forum! | Back to SIFF 2006 | Back to Current Releases |
| Home | Currently Playing | For Rent | Video Obsession ©2006 Moviepie e-mail us |
The Brits call them the Falkland Islands; the Argentians, the Islas Malvinas. In 1982, to distract from huge political and economic protests, the Argentinian government invaded the islands to "take them back", with hopes of creating a resurgence of patriotism from its people who were otherwise angry against the increasingly unpopular government. Young, untrained Argentinian soldiers were sent to this tiny group of British-occupied islands in the South Atlantic. The war lasted 72 days, and claimed nearly 1000 casualties (236 British and 655 Argentinian). The soldiers of the surrendering Argentinian side went home to no hero's welcome, and apparently as many soldiers have died of suicide, since then, as died in the actual conflict.
