MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' conflict Argentine movie praised in Britain

The Argentine film on the Falkland Islands conflict “Enlightened by fire” was exhibited in London and Manchester with emotive reactions from the audience.

Falklands' veterans, Foreign Office officials, Latinamerican Ambassadors were among the many guests at the Argentine Embassy in London where script writer and Malvinas veteran Edgardo Esteban did the presentation of the film.

"Everybody was quite moved, some of the Falklands' veterans even cried and remained to the very end for a big applause which really touched me", said Esteban.

The movie partly filmed in the Falklands tells the story of Argentine conscripts sent to battle in the Islands, how they were hailed as heroes in Argentina at the beginning of the conflict and how they had to endure defeat, rejection, oblivion and on their return blamed for the disaster.

This lack of help and respect for Malvinas veterans led many of them to commit suicide or to live in appalling conditions.

Esteban said a couple of Falklands' war veterans praised the film and "the human message it represents, admitting many British former service men face similar problems of suicide, unemployment, homelessness and deplorable living conditions".

Apparently this is also quite extended "among British troops returning from Iraq", added Esteban. According to Falklands' veterans the number of suicides almost equals the death toll in the 1982 war which was 252.

"The British like us have their own Malvinas drama", insisted Esteban.

"Enlightened by fire", which has proved a box success in Argentina was awarded a special Goya prize in Spain's main cinema Festival as well as in the San Sebastián and Havana film shows. It is now scheduled to tour thirty British cities with the Viva Festival.