Iluminados por el Fuego 2005

Iluminados por el fuego is the other side of the Falklands war. The Argentinian side. And it is a film that brilliantly subverts trends in war films of the last 20 years.

In the Argentine perspective of this war we see no pretty girls waiting at home for those couples torn apart by war. In fact these women have probably left with another man already, a far cry from 2007’s Atonement. We see no heroics of the uniform, as the men are openly portrayed as lacking basic equipment such as boots, something missing from even the more honest films about the gulf wars. There is no dream of a better world after the fighting for these men, who openly try to contaminate their food and water with ‘hepatiti’, leaving no memory of Band of Brothers or The Pacific.

It has more in common with post-Vietnam cinema of the North American new wave and the barking of Full Metal Jacket’s Sgt. Hartman, but the punished soldiers lack the nihilism of their American counterparts.

The privates, acted with varying levels of competency, not only laugh together but cry together, trembling visibly in their foxholes clutching mementos of home. Their suffering is almost exclusively unenhanced, save by strange and ironic music. Jaunty music hall piano overplays their one scene of merriment, slaughtering a sheep so they can eat something other than hard bread and thin soup. And frightening, giddy strings overplay scenes in the infirmary with mixed effect in the otherwise quiet film.

The trembling handheld camera work in the scenes shot on the islands grounds all of them, reminding us constantly of the cold and hunger and fear. It also nicely does away with the panoramic shots that have risen to success in the genre recently, showing battle fields like gory carousels.

The film’s narrative bounces between 2001 and 1982, allowing us certainty that two of the men will survive, if only for one of them to commit suicide, still haunted by the battlefield. The authenticity of the shots in Buenos Aires do hamper the film somewhat, as instead of creating two mutually beneficial narratives we instead experience unpleasant jerks back to a whitewashed world.

The message of the film is undoubtedly one that is anti-war. The enemy is almost invisible save the science fiction-esque British bomber than passes overhead, reminding us how ill-equipped the Argentinians were, and a touch of stock footage of the iron lady, firing a cannon in her head scarf. The only sign of British patriotism is a single flag flying on a school in a more peaceful island in 2001, passed by one of the former soldiers.

Bauer, who also wrote the screenplay, hammers the message home that the enemy was not so much the British (who’re still seen as island thieves by a stray voice over towards the end) but those in power in Argentina. The officers’ sadism and incompetence in Iluminados makes Kubrick’s Hartman look like a primary school teacher, as those men who stole meat rather than starved are staked out, spread-eagled on the freezing ground or beaten for their crimes. It’s interesting to note though that it isn’t class but power that seems to be the enemy of the working, starving, fighting soldier, unlike typical British war films.

The men who struggle on under these tyrants are far better acted in scenes of conflict, but their friendship and loyalty and childlike conversation and action is nonetheless touching.

The films 21^st century conclusion also warms the cockles and forces the tears as the token war cemetery shot is contrasted with an unusual return to the battlefield scene. But in contrast with the opening scene of familiar marches in Buenos Aires towards the Casa Rosada, we are given little hope for a country mending its ways, perhaps another reason, besides the honesty, that the film was so controversial in its native country.

Iluminados por el Fuego, despite its technical and budget floors is a fine and worthy film for anyone interested in 20^th century conflict, politics or who simply enjoys a good story about soldiers. It is moving and it is honest and it is pleasingly unconventional.

Director- Tristán Bauer
Starring- Gastón Pauls , José Luis Alfonzo , Juan Palomino
Runtime- 100 minutes
Language- Spanish