Director: Peeter Rebane
Starring: Tom Prior, Oleg Zagorodnii, Diana Pozharskaya, Jake Henderson, Nicholas Woodeson, Margus Prangel
Distributor: Rialto Distribution
Runtime: 107 mins. Reviewed in May 2022
Reviewer: Fr Peter Malone msc

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Rating notes: Strong sex scene

Firebird follows a handsome, soulful young soldier who embarks on a clandestine sexual affair with a charismatic fighter pilot on a Soviet Air Force Base at the height of 1970s Communist rule.

Estonia/UK, 2021.

We do not see many films from Estonia. And we do not see many stories from Estonia during the Soviet occupation, especially at an Army base in 1977. But, this is the initial setting. And it is the story of a young soldier, Sergey (British actor Prior, film co-writer and producer) who is nearing the end of his service, hounded by an exaggerated shouting sergeant major in the barracks, doing driving jobs, bonding with his friends, a keen photographer, especially Luisa who works in the major’s office.

But, this is a film about homosexual relationships. At the end of the film, there is information about legislation in Soviet times, about positive changes in 1993 but, a warning, that more restrictive legislation was introduced in Putin’s Russia in 2013. There is a website for information for audiences to view and respond.

In many ways, audiences nowadays are familiar with this story and so have to travel back to try to appreciate what relationships and secrecy were like in those times.

Prior is convincing as Sergey, developing his character over the six years of the film’s narrative, a naive soldier, acknowledging his sexual orientation, the relationship with the pilot, Roman, his move to Moscow to audition to be an actor, his success, the impact of Roman’s marriage to Luisa – and then four years passing, Roman and Luisa with their young son, Sergey successful in Moscow – and the build- to an emotional climax.

In the synopsis, Roman is described as ‘charismatic’. That seems to be something of an overstatement. The actor, Ukrainian Zagorodnii is iconically handsome, but nevertheless, somewhat stolid in his screen presence and performance. On the other hand, Luisa is a much more open personality.

There are three significant military characters in the background, Sergey has a young friend at the base who is hostile to the relationship, a major, sinister in that Soviet official way, suspicious of Roman, confronting him, asking Sergey to spy on him. He also appears at the wedding, confronting the couple. And, at the very end of the credits when most of the audience have acted on their compulsion to exit instantly, there is a momentary glimpse of the major, a reminder of continuing sinister surveillance. But, there is also a sympathetic official, played by Nicholas Woodeson, familiar from many British films, who reveals that he has always known what was happening but did not let that influence his decision-making.

There are two sequences from Stravinsky’s, Firebird, symbolic – but, perhaps, not for those unfamiliar with the ballet.

A contribution to dramatising the realities and emotions of same-sex relationships and a reminder of past (and present) repressions.