Firebird (2022)

By: Mike Ward on Friday, April 29

R Running Time: 107 mins

SHOULD I SEE IT?

YES

  • Earnest and heartfelt, Firebird is based on a bittersweet true story.

  • Well-made with two lead actors who generate great chemistry, Firebird may hit you in the feels as it wears it heart squarely on its sleeve.

  • Another reminder in the senselessness of discrimination against anyone; and specifically here, the LGBTQIA= community.

NO

  • Stands on the well-traveled ground already explored by films like Call Me By Your Name and Brokeback Mountain. And it shows.

  • While the film should be commended for being a truly international production, forcing the film to be in English - when several key actors do not speak English as their primary first language diffuses much of the emotion and impact the film aims for.

  • The screenplay proves its weakest element, disappointingly heavy-handed and squarely on-the-nose.


OUR REVIEW

There really isn’t joy for film reviewers when it comes to writing negative reviews of films. Especially those who are earnest, sincere, and wear their hearts on their sleeve. With Firebird, director Peeter Rebane tells the true story of two men who fall in love while serving in the Russian military in the late-1970s. The film speaks to the toll it takes to force people into closets, to hide their true selves and their love of others. The story is heartfelt and its lead actors generate great chemistry in trying to navigate the paths their hearts have taken them on. In so many ways, Firebird has the pieces in place to leave an impact, bring some tears, and make us all realize how senseless discrimination is in all forms.

However, then you realize that Firebird has been told in more powerful and lasting ways. The story presented here exists in iconic gay love stories like Brokeback Mountain and Call Me By Your Name. Though taking place in Estonia, Malta, and the former Soviet Union, you can envision Wyoming pastures and remote Italian villas once private Sergey meets fighter pilot Roman and the sparks begin to ignite.

That this is based on a genuinely moving true story complicates the fact that the movie’s screenplay is its weakest element. Sergey (Tom Prior, who co-wrote the screenplay) is a conscripted officer counting down the days until his service ends and he can pursue his passion in becoming an actor. His best friend Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) carries a bit of an unspoken fancy for Sergey but the two simply survive together, as Luisa works as a secretary for a military general. 

Though Luisa cannot quite understand why Sergey wouldn’t want to continue to serve past the two-year requirement all Soviet men were required to go through in the 1970s, the arrival of Roman (Oleg Zagorodnil) shakes up their lives forever.

Roman, tall, square-jawed and striking in a uniform, has a commonality that draws Sergey in closer. They love photography and the arts. For Sergey, that’s almost enough. The youthful crush is stifling within him, but for Roman, older and seemingly wiser in how to handle a relationship like this, guides Sergey through secret meetings, steals him away from walks off base, and arranges late night swims and hangouts. They fall for each other, but eyes are watching. So when a stuffy, grumbly Major General (Margus Prangel) begins following them, and drops hints reminding Roman of Article 121, which criminalized homosexual behavior in Russia, things become increasingly complicated.

Rebane’s film is well-made and shot beautifully by Mait Mäekivi. The first half of the story moves well, introduces the characters effectively and is heightened by great chemistry from Prior and Zagorodnil. When they smile, we smile. We want them to find a way past the constraints which force them to hide and love in secret. We also know that with another hour to go, Firebird is going to become a story of breakups, arguments and impassioned pleas to live as you are. Also it becomes obvious that various conflicts make all of this seemingly impossible.

I don’t discredit that completely, we have just been down these roads before. And when the film elevates the stakes of romance and Sergey departs the Russian military and is living his dream as an actor, while Luisa falls for Roman, this all becomes very heavy-handed and very on-the-nose.

Stilted dialogue, enhanced by the film being spoken in English when English is not several key actors’ native language, diffuses some of the emotional beats Rebane strives for. Accents become distracting when Prior tries to maintain a Russian accent, or one supporting character Volodja (Jake Henderson) fails to hide his American dialect. And yes, this may be trivial to point out, but when Luisa finally gets a big scene to release a film’s worth of anger and emotional pain, the lack of subtitles buffers the believability substantially.

Firebird’s website and press notes encourage you to read Sergey’s true story, and the excerpts I read proved touching and impactful. Prior and Rebane got to meet and work in pre-production on the film with Sergey, before his unfortunate passing in 2017 followed complications from a surgical procedure. 

I have to believe, if at the film’s premiere, he would be smiling ear-to-ear with the final product. Firebird does largely honor his love story well. The problem isn’t with Sergey and Roman. It’s that in this presentation, we simply can’t forget Jack and Ennis, or Elio and Oliver. Those stories, and others, play more vividly and more prominently in our minds as Sergey and Roman struggle to find their place together in the world.

CAST & CREW

Starring: Tom Prior, Oleg Zagorodnil, Diana Pozharskaya, Jake Henderson, Margus Prangel, Sergei Lavrentyev

Director: Peeter Rebane
Written by: Peeter Rebane, Tom Prior
Based on “The Story of Roman” by Sergey Fetisov
Release Date: April 29, 2022
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