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.

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/

I just saw 'Iluminados por el fuego' at the 'Filmar en America Latina' film festival in Geneva, which takes places here every year and lasts about three weeks in November. Fist of all, I would like to say that I have read all the 3 comments posted so far and found all the three useful. What I would also like to say is that even here, people who had seen the film I talked to also felt like me that it was very strong and extremely intelligently made because, instead of depicting details of military operations, it really focused on the real drama, the drama of young conscripts who DID NOT want to go to war and were sent to a completely useless slaughter and the tragic aftermath of it. Another strong point of the film is that is also emphasizes the total lack of humanity of a bloody dictatorship, which, non content of having already killed about 30'000 people (I think this is the official number of the 'disappeared', and I heard there might have been more; anyway, anyone who might confirm or correct what I say here is welcome)could not, before leaving power, perform another final act of abominable criminal madness, which, in many respect, reminds of the criminal madness of the Nazis at the end of WW II in Germany,which also sent thousands to a useless death simply because they knew their time was over. This very war, which many people around the world tend to forget nowadays, is the final tragic demonstration of the Nazi-like nature of this military dictatorship, and it is even more disgusting to know that many of those involved in it have benefited from amnesty, instead of being sentenced to death by hanging like their models!!! This, I think, is one of the very reason why films such as 'Iluminados por el fuego' are important.

Iluminados Por El Fuego is a cruel and real story about a tragic war between Argentina and Great Britain, struggling for the Islas Malvinas in the South Atlantic. That was decided by Argentinean Military Government in 1982 in order to gain popularity among citizens trying to distract attention in a moment where Argentina was close to a civil war. Any strategic or tactic analysis of that tragic war will explain all the mistakes that put Argentina in disadvantage to win the war, but the movie itself shows the cruel reality that lived the 17 and 18 year old recruit soldiers, today still suffering war veterans. Iluminados Por El Fuego shows perfectly how the boys (because the were just boys) lived a war they didn't ask for, suffered a war they were not ready to face or fight, with almost no food, no weapons and no training. The movie shows how the boys of war became today's suffering veterans struggling to survive with no help, trying to live alone in a country that seems to be ignorant to the terrible reality they lived. Iluminados Por El Fuego is, 23 years after the war, the very first real important Movie about Malvinas War, a clear example of how human life can be so cheap.