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Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga / Film Review


The Eurovision song contest: The story of Fire Saga film review:

Hilarious, full of heart and simply brilliant.
The movie follows Lars and Sigrid, two musicians with passionate dreams to become contestants on the Eurovision song contest and win for Iceland; their home country. Lars has no doubt that they will win- despite the lack of enthusiasm from the locals- and Sigrid follows with the hopes that their partnership, since childhood, could extend to romance. 
The signature dry humour from Will Ferrell, who was accompanied by the equally very funny and talented Racheal Mcadams, had me smiling throughout. I really enjoyed the silliness and Innocence of these two characters which provided a sweet story of who the contestants are, their love for the contest and their journey.

Never have I felt such a connection to a movie by knowing full well the origins from which it was created. By this, I'm referring to Eurovision.

Living in the UK, I’ve grown up with Eurovision every year and I have to say that the silliness and craziness of it all in the movie is spot on. Eurovision is a big thing that I can only vaguely compare to a musical version of the Olympics- it's a big deal and has been in my memory for the longest time.
When I was little my family would gather in front of the tv with a pen and paper and we would each score the contestants out of ten. We'd tune in full eyes and ears to the UK's entry. By the end of it, we'd see who our winner was compared to the official winner. Likewise, my parents would go off to Eurovision parties where everyone would be assigned to a country.

As far as likeness goes, the writers, directors and producers were pretty spot on:
  • The UK holds a contest before Eurovision where they will choose their submission from singers ranging from well-known to fresh on the scene. The winner of this will compete for the country in Eurovision.
  • Every European country submits an act to take part in this contest.
  • The countries vote like in the movie (although there are always some alleged alliances between countries who will always vote for one another) and the winner hosts the contest in their country the following year. 
  • Graham Norton voices his comments for the ears of the UK's audience which is likewise for all countries; every country will have a different commentator. What Graham will do is sit in a cubicle watching the show with us and voice the speech that's not English- talking us through video clips and sections in between acts. Sometimes poking fun at the bizarreness of It all but never during the performances.

Something they didn’t show was the clip that each country make and present before they are up on stage and presumably whilst the stage is being set up. This will introduce the act, where their from, their story, facts and sometimes hints of what their time on stage will be like. The music video shown near the beginning by the volcanoes (with the silver costumes and keyboards) is so uncanny to a clip we'd see that I presume this is what would be shown for Iceland's intro in the movie.

My memories of the contest include someone running from the audience on stage to join a performance they were not in and that act performing a do-over, this time undisturbed. Jedward who were contestants on the UK’s X factor competed, representing Ireland. 
Lucie Jones who recently played Jenna in Waitress in the West End competed for the UK in recent years.

What always astounds me is that the performers never appear nervous on stage. No shaking or trembling of the voice, they fully embrace it. I'm wondering if that's due to the viewer count and stadium being so huge that you can disconnect yourself from it- or they're more used to big crowds than an introverted artist and student with a huge fear of being on stage.

 You may be reading this from a country that has never experienced watching Eurovision and be entirely astounded that this yearly tradition is soaked up by so many, but it does feel bizarre to watch. Visually it will make you ask what is actually happening before my eyes? and is this real life? Let me assure you that what you're seeing is creativity and fearlessness at its best.

You couldn’t put a date on when this movie takes place, due to the variety of styles featured in the contest. Just like real life, there’s so many different people clearly not afraid to present themselves how they want to. I haven’t really dwelled on this too much to notice before but it’s part of the magic of Eurovision that unites non-identical people together, presenting to the world that experimentation is more interesting than uniform and fitting a mould. 
Such creativity and such boldness is encouraged by Eurovision.

I'm incredibly pleased that it was decided a film should be made inspired by Eurovision as it's a part of British history, which doesn't really stand out as exceptional any more to the eyes of the viewer. In the best way, It occurs to me that I don't question it, it just is a part of the European household. It's a fantastic display of creativity and unity.
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Just briefly, I’m quite interested to find out what the two drinks at a time deal is about with Sigrid. Not a big thing in the story just a curious choice for the character. I also liked Sigrid's and Lars's 'I'm checking you out' bit and I'd love to know what inspired this.

Lastly, I admired that during the credits, posted on the screen was the actors' names alongside their country flag. It was a small but recognisable homage to the essence of Eurovision.
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As always, thank you for reading!

All the love and be safe,
Buddy xx


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Please note that the images used are not my own and used solely for this blog post.

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