MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falkland's war film revives Argentina's past

A new film about the Falkland Islands war of 1982 partially shot in the Islands and which should be completed in a few weeks, has reopened a debate in Argentina about the country's recent history, according to the Sunday edition of “The Independent”.

The script is from the book "Enlightened by the Fire", written by a former Argentine Malvinas conscript, Edgardo Esteban, 40, who returned to the Islands for the first time in 1999 as a television journalist. In the book Mr. Esteban depicts the tragedy of the Falklands' "veteranos" who were "officially gagged" and "publicly shunned".

Since the end of the 1982 war, 267 Argentine veterans are reported to have committed suicide compared to the 635 actually killed in combat.

Battle scenes were shot in Patagonia and a few in Falklands where the Argentine crew and Mr. Esteban according to his own words, "?for the most part they (Islanders) were respectful and let us get on with the film".

However the greatest controversy, (and good timing for the film) will take place in Argentina where the newly elected president Nestor Kirchner "has lifted the lid on the painful past by revoking a law, passed in 2001, which protected members of the Argentine military from extradition. Among those facing international justice are not only the dictators responsible for invading the Falklands, but those accused of kidnapping and murdering around 30,000 Argentines during the dirty war on left wingers at home".

The psychological impact on the families of those disappeared during the "dirty war" is the subject of yet another film, "Imagining Argentina" which stars British actress Emma Thompson.

"Kirchner is trying to heal the wounds and build a more serious country, which it won't be until justice begins to function", remarks Mr. Esteban.

But President's critics fear that the historical debate could sap his administration and distract it from pressing economic and social issues.

A film technician quoted by The Independent argues that only a few of the human rights violators will be brought to justice, and it also brings back old resentments. "There comes a point when you have to say, "Let's move on, and though not forget".

The makers of "Imagining Argentina" and "Enlightened by the Fire" disagree, "if they killed your child, stole your grandchild or sent your son to die, cold and hungry, in trenches in the South Atlantic, you don't heal", remarked Mr. Esteban.

He also hopes the film of his book will provide a debate on the reasons why 267 of his fellow veterans have killed themselves.

However "The Independent" concludes pointing out that in spite of the new climate of openness about the past President Kirchner is not abandoning Argentina's historic claim to the Falklands. It was renewed in United Nations last June and repeated to British Primer Minister Tony Blair last month in Britain.

London's reply came the last week of July through Foreign Office Minister for Latinamerica, Bill Rammell who stated that, "The Falkland Islands will continue to be British while the Islanders want them to be, and that is the last word on the matter".