Nana

Director: Peeter Rebane

Stars: Tom Prior,  Oleg Zagorodnii, Diana Pozharskaya…

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 1970’s Communist rule.

I correctly predicted that this is going to be a tragedy based on the summary alone, so I delayed with watching this movie for quite a while, as this is something that I’m not fond of. It’s an interesting story that is entertaining to an extent, but there are certainly some remarks I’d like to make. Since I didn’t read Sergey’s memoirs, and his biography on the movie’s official website isn’t exactly detailed, I’m wondering how much of the movie stayed true to the real story and events, and what parts might have been introduced just for the dramatic effect.

Of course, I also didn’t appreciate the homophobic atmosphere in the Air Force Base, which was kinda present, but luckily not too emphasized (I have a feeling it could have been much worse had the director wanted to focus on that). I hated that nosy Major Zverev who was always lurking around looking to catch them in their romantic moments. Also, the whole historical and Soviet feel felt to me a little bit artificial. I guess it’s difficult to capture the essence of the past with all the modernity surrounding us that we’ve gotten used to. At times I felt the movie sliding a little bit towards the melodramatic side and there were more political overtones than I expected, especially towards the ending. I found some things unnecessary.

What I really liked about the movie was the chemistry between the characters. I really enjoyed the way their relationship was portrayed and I think it was really passionate, so that’s the thing that I liked the most. The rest of it, surrounding them - not as much. Definitely kudos for bringing an interesting story from the past, though!

Both of these boys are getting beaten regularly by their fathers and since they are either POC and/or poorer than the protagonists of their respective show they don't feel like they are able to get help, which leads to them resorting to violence, aggression or even sexual assault. (I am in no way trying to justify rape here, don't get me wrong, I just want to highlight that if you do that at the age of 17, you really need help) But then both of them get the chance to redeem themselves, to become a better person and to move past what they have been before: Billy through El showing him that he can be loved, that he can do something good in this world and save the people important to him, which he ultimately does. Monty meets Winston, who maybe could have helped him to come out, to come to terms with who he is, and to replace negative emotions with positive ones (and let's be honest, redemption through love is one of the coolest tropes in existence).

You can notice a change in both of these people, but before they and the audience can go on this journey of self-betterment, recovery and redemption they are killed off "for the plot's sake" (giving Max Trauma and framing a murder on Monty so the actual murderer doesn't need to face consequences).

And I'm really not okay with this because it gives off the feeling of, if you do bad stuff once, it doesn't matter how much you would like to change, you can't, and before you have the chance to even go one step in the right direction, you will be killed off so the story is more convenient for the "good" people.