Firebird (2021)

 

            “Firebird” is a military romance movie.  Peeter Rebane made his directorial debut.  In 2014, he came across Igor Stravinsky’s memoir “The Story of Roman”.  He co-wrote the screenplay with Tom Prior, who plays Sergey in the movie.  The movie had some success at LGBTQ film festivals.

            Sergey is private at an Estonian air base.  He was conscripted and is looking forward to the end of his tour.  He is assigned to assist a newly arrived pilot named Roman (Oleg Zagorodnii).  Both men flirt with Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya), but it is part of their staying in the closet.  The two men fall in love and can’t stop it even though they have a KGB agent snooping around.  If they are caught they could be sent to five years of hard labor.  In a society where telling a joke about Stalin can get you in trouble, homosexuality is strictly forbidden.  They have some close calls, but love, even forbidden love, will out.

            “Firebird” is a simple movie with no frills.  It has an outside the box plot.  Because the second half is outside the military, it is not clearly a war movie. It’s a love triangle where the three main characters are (were) in the military.  By main characters I mean Roman and Sergey.  Luisa is an underdeveloped character and her role as the heterosexual in the love triangle is cursory.  It is predictable as it solves the love triangle by eliminating one of the lovers.  The film benefits from being set in the Soviet military.  This ups the stakes for Sergey and Roman.  Roman takes ridiculous risks to carry on the relationship with Sergey.  The point is that gay men can be willing to risk their careers and prison time for love, just like straight men.  Before you shake your head at the Soviet law against homosexuality, the United States was not much more open to gay relationships in the 1970s, especially in the military. 

            If you find LGBTQ issues to be offensive, this is not the movie for you.  There is a fairly graphic sex scene involving Sergey and Roman.  I had to remind myself that these types of scenes between heterosexuals are common in R-rated films.  The acting is average.  The music is Hallmarkish.  Like I said, the movie is simple, yet it makes a strong statement about gays having to navigate mine fields to be in love.  And we have reached the point where we can have a war movie about a gay relationship.  Another step in the right direction.

GRADE  =  C