Review of Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga (2020) by Soundmate — 16 Jul 2020

I don't really know what I expected from a movie about the Eurovision Song Contest but, as an enormous fan of it, I felt the immediate need to watch this new Netflix film, specially after noticing Rachel McAdams was one of the main characters.

The movie follows the story of Fire Saga, a lovely Icelandic musical duo (which everybody hates, I honestly don't understand why) that grew up watching the annual music event and that aim to participate in it someday, somehow. After getting there by one way or another they start they journey to Edinburgh, where many past Eurovision winners from Salvador Sobral to Netta also appear to be staying. The narrative continues and concludes with their participation in the Eurovision final, where they'll battle against other countries for the Eurovision trophy. This narrative is quite cute, exciting, cohesive but, in the end, quite predictable. Despite this, the cameos in this film like Demi Lovato's have been chosen with a lot of love and delicacy as well as the musical numbers that appear throughout the film. Never have you ever felt the need to jam to a rare but cute mashup of "Believe", "Ray of Light" and "Waterloo"? Well I can't get this masterpiece out of my head!

Continuing with the protagonists, Fire Saga are sometimes quite noisy and cringey all due to Lars' hypersensitivity and jalousie. Nevertheless, their way of acting and musical direction include the most predictable and best cliche north European-Viking-Icelandic stereotypes; and I love it. A low point for this film is the many idiot, middle age crisis dick jokes that appear from beginning to end. The landscapes and photography are amazing in this film as well as its respective soundtrack, which includes the most common Swedish-pop orientated songs to ever exist, a true definition of Eurovision. What also matches the contest with the film is the continuous fear to fail and deception, making representants think that they won't be anybody if they do not enter the top 10. It also remebles the popular feeling that says that Eurovision is a waste of time and a opportinity for artists to become one-hit wonders. You know what? These are the people who would rather see Europe entering a war again. Eurovision is a contest yes, it shouldn't be and it isn't if you don't want to. Musicians never think of having a number one single on the Billboard Hot 100, they just want to make and share their feelings through music. As simple as that. Having commercial success is just a consequence to celebrate if it happens. Thus, you can think of Eurovision as a musical war and fight against your Dutch parents or German cousins or just enjoy and feel the music without looking at the results.

In conclusion, despite its extensive length-over 2 hours-and continuous bad jokes, "ESC: The Story of Fire Saga" is a very nice film to watch with friends and family on a Sunday night after having some drinks. Just dance, sing and jam to this movie (forget the plot), you'll have the time of your life while crying and getting thrilled.