Many San Franciscans have wondered why so many poor, rural, and working-class Americans voted for the billionaire Donald Trump as President. Fire Song, made last year but just released on DVD by Wolfe Video, implies that the destitute environment common to such communities renders them vulnerable to a savior who promises to liberate them from their unhappy lives. Fire Song presents one such locale, a First Nations Anishnaabe reservation in northern Ontario, in all its bleakness. The film focuses on a population, aboriginal youth, almost never discussed in LGBT cinema, so on that note alone, Fire Song is worth viewing.
Shane (Andrew Martin) is a gay teenager coming to a crossroads in his life. He had planned to attend college in Toronto, trying to coax his secret boyfriend David (Harley Legarde) to accompany him, but his sister Destiny's suicide has put a hold on his future. His widowed mother Jackie (Jennifer Poderneski) is shattered by grief and spends all her time sitting alone in Destiny's bedroom, refusing to attend her funeral. Shane desperately wants to escape �" his father left him money to go to university �" but must cope with caring for and supporting his depressed mother, a house literally falling apart, concealing his homosexuality, denying his true affections for David, guilt over his sister's death, and betraying his girlfriend Tara (Mary Galloway). Tara has no idea Shane is gay, is pressuring him to have sex as well as fighting off her father's incestuous advances, and is willing to go with him to Toronto.
Destiny's ghost haunts Shane wherever he goes. Her death has affected everyone in this poverty-stricken community. Traditional healing circles are formed in a vain attempt to help the teenagers cope with her passing. We are not told why she killed herself, but it's easy to see why suicide is a temptation in a place where there seem few options for a better future. Suicide is the leading cause of death among aboriginal youth in Canada.
Though they acknowledge the presence of two-spirited persons, the inhabitants aren't very tolerant of queer people, with David's grandmother Evie (Ma-Nee Chacaby) warning him that "too much male energy is not good." David is the closeted grandson of a tribal leader, one of the bright stars being apprenticed as a medicine man, and reluctant to leave with Shane. Shane, trying to keep everyone happy, starts buckling under a heavy emotional toll. He makes some poor decisions that land him in messes. Time is running out for him to decide whether or not to leave this dead-end town, with his ambitions not encouraged by the locals or his family.
Writer/director Adam Garnet Jones is Anishnaabe, and most of the cast and crew are First Nations people. Home, and all the characters' ambivalent feelings about it, especially as gay people in a quasi-hostile environment, is a central theme. Cinematographer James Kinistin captures the power of the harsh landscape and its isolation.
Unfortunately, there is too much tragedy stuffed into 90 minutes: suicide, rape, incest, homophobia, alcohol, drugs, stifling small-town existence. Jones tries to resolve all the conflicts, to conclude on an upbeat note, despite the downer subject matter. Two stellar performances, from Martin (in a James Dean mode) and Poderneski (showing us pain but not going overboard), ground the film, but many of the other actors are nonprofessional, and it shows. Also, the relationship between Shane and David, is not very exciting, lacking any real erotic spark, so the audience wonders whether their connection is worth all the turmoil it is stirring up. Still, Jones shows promise showcasing a marginalized indigenous culture, revealing how gayness is both part of that culture and a challenge to it.