Firebird

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?

This is the first film from Estonia I watched. Films are always a nice way to experience the countries, cultures and stories otherwise I wouldn't have tried.

It's a sleek and smooth film. Good production value, nice scenes, adequate actors... But it feels a bit too conventional, bit cliche, bit too predictable. The military base forever under a cold blue cast, rain in the emergency landing scene, the blacksea beach forever bleached under warm summer tone, the last theatre scene that looks like a cover photo of a fashion magazine with too much glamour filter... Music of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky to heighten the emotions... And lines from Shakespeare, of course.

There's nothing wrong for a film to be conventional. It's a business after all, and however wonderful a story, it has to sell first for it to be heard by the public. But I wished at times, that the production rather have cut some of those cliches, and really, I mean really went down to the depth of the emotions of the characters. Then the tragic love story would have been much more heartfelt and real.

Definitely well made and worth a watch... but not a masterpiece.

PS. I must question the choice of English language for the film. Yes, I see it's a UK-Estonian joint venture, yes, I see the main actor is English, and yes it may sell easier internationally... But having actors speaking in 'funny accent' is certainly one aspect that takes away the sense of reality from the the drama, especially because in most English speaking countries, foreign accent invariably invokes a negative connotation. I would have rather liked it in full Estonian or English with no particular accent.

I'm an Eastern European queer born in Socialist times, so the story isn't exactly new to me. Almost all of us have usually far grimmer tales to tell, like asking a guy for a light in Opera Park and suddenly finding oneself in a basement pressed for names of fellow queers by a phone book slammed on the fingers. So I'm a bit put off by how tame this all is, a little bit of menace amidst extremely careless behavior - we were way more ingenious back then.

But it's wonderfully photographed for sure and Prior and Zagorodny are insanely hot - their love scenes look like they were choreographed by Matthew Bourne. To top it off, Zagorodny bears a remarkable resemblance to Tom Cruise, which is definitely not coincidental. So this is the film for all the gays fantasizing after watching Top Gun - prior to this one the gayest air force movie ever, even though they hid the subtext well. And it's perhaps an elegant jab at an actor who does action movies at 60 but still hasn't had his Jodie Foster moment.

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.

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? ;)