malvinas/falklands: iluminados por el fuego

Iluminados por el fuego or Enlightened by Fire narrates the memories of a 40-year-old man, Esteban Leguizamon, who was sent to fight on the Malvinas Islands in 1982 at the age of 18. A friend’s attempted suicide triggers off the memories of the war times he shared with two young privates: Vargas, the suicide, and Juan, who was killed on the battlefield.

This is the film I went to see on Sunday afternoon as part of a long weekend of attempting to understand Argentine takes on the conflict.

I tried to take a few notes during the film but only had a ticket stub to hand, leaving me with disconnected phrases and words scrawled at random:

going to the front, Varges' face is grey and bloated and haggard; fear and mud like 1 WW trenches but just 25 years ago for f sake; night battle - dead illuminated by explosions; punishment for stealing a sheep; fog; dirty frozen water in tin cup; Varges kept saying he wanted to go back to the islands tenemos que volver; his son; don't be afraid of the dark, listen if you can't see.; i can't watch cruelty and violence; che!; Varges owed garage, then worked in a factory, then had to beg; emerging from burrows; just one letter from Marta; there is no hunger, there is no cold, only God and the homeland! says the general as they shake with cold; I'm from Missiones (in the rural tropical north of Argentina); boat firing or exploding; no welcome home; Leguizamon returns to Argentina - wide blue sky and gentle hospitality; uncontrollable grief.

Trailer and clip can be viewed here.