Firebird

Obvious, it is a beautiful film. For landscapes, good intentions around a real case as manifesto, for the moral conflicts, shadow of fear and the good remind of Stravinski creation. But it remains one ad usum Delphini film. Sure, the memories about Brokeback Mountain and sparkles of Doctor Zhivago are useful but as a sort of support. I just love the work of Tom Prior and Oleg Zagorodnii , I appreciate, in high measure, the performance of Diana Pozharskaya but something seems ignored or missed or to easy used. The cause, maybe, the film is proposed to a Western public. And I admitt, I do not know the book inspiring the movie. But, not ignoring its beauty, I feel it deserves be better. More than beautiful, soft bitter, adapted to a large public taste, using silly dialogues because it is just hard to accept the naivety of the two men and the way to escape to the eye of officials. But, I reppeate, it is just a beautiful film. Not perfect, because, behind the sparks of gestures, intense sad love story, part of army and crumbs of Soviet life style, are too many holes and large unrealism. It seems too...didactic. Naif, fake. Sure, my expectations about it were more than high. But the result is only decent for few mistakes who are good saboters of a charming story remaining promissing sketch. Sure, handsome actors and not bad script. But , maybe as result to be an Eastern European, the feeling about something is missing remains. So, decent, with few scenes just lovely.

In the episode where Sergei develops a photos, we see a close-up of his hands with long nails and a manicure. Nobody told Tom Prior that it was impossible in the Soviet army? ;)

Brilliant artwork and meticulous costume bring alive an era in Soviet history which was shaded by the brutal laws of the regime. In defiance of all the dangers, Sergey and Ramon consummate their love for each other. The intimate scenes are carefully choreographed. An overall beautiful piece. Would advise the makers to add closed captions to the movie as the Russian accent is sometimes hard to understand.

Firebird (2021) was co-written and directed by Peeter Rebane. This isn't a review of Stravinsky's Firebird. It a movie set in Estonia in 1977, when that country was part of the Soviet Union.

I don't know why the movie has an Estonian director, a star from the UK (Tom Prior), from Ukraine (Oleg Zagorodnii) and from Russia (Diana Pozharskaya). Everyone speaks in English. Director Rebane is bilingual, but what about Zagorodnii and Pozharskaya? They may be bilingual as well. Usually, you'll notice dubbing, but I didn't detect it in this case.

Prior plays Sergey, a young conscript who wants to become an actor when his conscription ends. Zagorodnii is Roman, a tough fighter pilot. ("The Firebird.") Pozharskaya plays Luisa, who works as the colonel's secretary. (She wears a uniform, but I can't tell if she's actually in the air force.)

I called this a very unusual love triangle, because both men are attracted to each other, and Luisa is attracted to them both. The plot moves forward from there.

We saw this film virtually from the great ImageOut Rochester LGBT Film Festival. It has an excellent IMDb rating of 7.7. I agreed, and rated it 8.

P. S. The Firebird ballet does enter the movie. The men go to see a performance of the ballet in Moscow.

Imagine, if you will, a tense time where if the Air Force discovered one was in a same sex relationship, it was grounds to be locked away in prison for five years. This came from Estonia must be a big deal for Eastern European countries, which are still super conservative when it comes to LGBTQ+ rights. But why was this shot in English then?