Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga Review

Yo Ho, WeRCatz here!

What is Eurovision? On May 24 1956, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) launched the first Eurovision Song Contest. Based on the famous Sanremo Music Festival from 1951, the EBU wanted Europe to come together; they were also experimenting with a thing called live television. The result: Eurovision Song Contest grew to become the most-watched event (not counting sports) and one of the world’s longest-running television programs. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Eurovision 2020 (hosted in Rotterdam, Netherlands) is canceled and will hopefully return in 2021.

Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga was supposed to play in theatres in May 2020 to coincide with Eurovision 2020. Instead, the movie was released on June 26 via Netflix.

This movie was pretty good. There were a few good laughs here even though the story itself is a little banal. Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams make a good team in showing comedic tropes though at times some tropes didn’t deliver as well as they should. I loved their song “Volcano Man” and couldn’t stop laughing at the song’s presentation.

What stood out the most in the film is the culture that stands around Eurovision itself. People are excited about the live performances while the world Many cameos from Eurovisions past appear during a “song-a-long” segment where people song-a-long to different songs: John Lundvik (Swedish representative 2019), Conchita Wurst (Austrian winner 2014), Salvador Sobral (Portuguese winner 2017) and many more. And then the contest itself: the spectacles of Eurovision are superior to other television programs or televised halftime shows. In fact, the protagonists’ band “Fire Saga” performed their entry song “Double Trouble” is reminiscent of the first song of the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest in Copenhagen: Ukraine’s “Tick-Tock” performed by Mariya Yaremchuk that involves a giant hamster wheel.

All in all, Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga pays comedic homage to Eurovision Song Contest. I recommend seeing this movie, but not for just Eurovision and Iceland (beautiful country). To get a glimpse of the contest and what you get for seeing a near four hours of music and suspense, here’s a link to Eurovision Song Contest 2014 Grand Final in its entirety! You will be amazed.