Firebird review – story of gay lovers the Soviet era is Brokeback the USSR | Film | The Guardian

Contents:

• THE FILM PUT DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE: FIREBIRD, A GAY LOVE STORY ABOUT FIGHTER PILOTS
• ‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: STEAMY GAY COLD WAR DRAMA RELLS RSIA’S PAST ATROCI
• FIREBIRD REVIEW – STORY OF GAY LOVERS THE SOVIET ERA IS BROKEBACK THE USSR
• ‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: A HEARTFELT BUT HEAVY-HAND TALE OF HIDN GAY LOVE THE SOVIET AIR FORCE

THE FILM PUT DON’T WANT THE WORLD TO SEE: FIREBIRD, A GAY LOVE STORY ABOUT FIGHTER PILOTS

New gay film Firebird offers a fascatg sight to love agast the backdrop of war.

This isn’t a tale of angst-ridn gays; both men are at ease wh their sexualy, but the Soviet Unn is not. It’s an aspect that mak this an tertg pann piece to Sebastian Meise’s Great Freedom—part of which is set a siar perd Germany when gay men ntued to be crimalized followg the Send World War—and Arthur Dong’s excellent documentary Comg Out Unr Fire, examg the history of the treatment of LGBTQ members of the ary by the US ernment.

“Beg gay was a crimal offence. ” Rebane knew he was gay at the age of ne. ”Remarkably for a film wh such overtly gay ntent, several exterr scen were filmed Mosw.

‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: STEAMY GAY COLD WAR DRAMA RELLS RSIA’S PAST ATROCI

“After that, ” adds Prr, “there was a plat about beg ‘homosexual propaganda’.

There is an unniable tensn Firebird between s aspiratn to be a grty perd piece and s sire to be an exhibn of homoerotic beekkery, and I’m not sure the film’s director (Peeter Rebane) effectively signals to which si he’d prefer his dience to lean. The disproportnate foc that gay romance films have on whe, cisgenr, mcular leadg men is a symptom of larger issu the queer muny, and ’s time we started to curate a more reprentative non of LGBTQ+ films. Also prent is the ‘homophobic gnt’, who mak a missn to ensure our lovebirds spend more time jail than they do each other's arms.

The film's very missn statement is to tail the life of Sergey Fetisov, who is played wonrfully here by Tom Prr, and Fetisov lived durg a time and a regime which the two-dimensnal homophob did exist.

FIREBIRD REVIEW – STORY OF GAY LOVERS THE SOVIET ERA IS BROKEBACK THE USSR

Firebird's 'other woman' character, Luisa, did exist, and further rearch to Firebird reveals that her and Sergey's relatnship was far more straed the origal script; effort has clearly been ma to make her character feel ls like a moralistic judgement on the ma relatnship and more like a real and nuanced the two-dimensnal homophobe character which hnts our pair throughout the film is ground by a sister post-creds scene, which didn't add nuance to the character per se, but grounds him as a metaphor for the ghoulish queerphobic vlence which still plagu ex-soviet stat today.

And while wtern gay media mt make an effort to tell more tersectnal queer narrativ, there is an unniable value to pictg the stori of gay men the untri nsirg they’re currently beg round up to ncentratn mps.

Its sweepg plot and ary backdrop give a flavour and athetic not dissiar to the romanc of classic Hollywood, and I'm lookg forward to re-watchg the uple navigate the prsur of anti-gay society.

‘FIREBIRD’ REVIEW: A HEARTFELT BUT HEAVY-HAND TALE OF HIDN GAY LOVE THE SOVIET AIR FORCE

Based on a memoir by Sergey Fetisov, the steamy Cold War drama honors this lost chapter of gay history wh a handsome renrg that only ocsnally stumbl unr the weight of historil accuracy. Ma last year but sudnly obliquely relevant after the Rsian vasn of Ukrae, this Estonian-Brish -productn exam some of the ways a reprsive and homophobic state apparat srs cizens wh shame. However, when Sergey is assigned to serve as a sort of valet to suave ace fighter pilot Roman Matvajev (Ukraian actor Oleg Zagorodnii), the attractn between the two men turns physil and they’re soon makg out to Tchaikovsky rerds and sneakg off to Talln to watch a performance of Igor Stravsky’s Firebird, hence the film’s, this was a time when homosexualy was outlawed the Soviet ary – though the current suatn is not much better – and an anonymo source tips off the lol KGB officer, meang that Sergey and Roman have to hi their love away.

Subtlety is short supply “Firebird, ” a swoong gay romance that firmly supplants “Top Gun” as the queert film ever set the air force; may even top Tony Stt’s closeted kschft for most phallic ary imagery per ame.

Abive treatment om his hyper-macho manrs is balanced out by jovial iendships wh dorm-mate Volodja (Jake Thomas Henrson) and base secretary Luisa (Diana Pozharskaya) — who rri a torch for dreamy Sergey that anyone wh a passable gaydar might sense is not mutual.