The song “Husavik” written for the Netflix original “Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga” is tapped as a likely nomination for best original song at the 93rd Academy Awards this year.
The Husavik song is performed by characters Lars Erickssong and Sigrit Ericksdóttir (played by Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams). The two play a duo of quirky and unlikely Icelandic contenders, and the song debuts in the film as the “eleventh-hour” reveal in a touching piano ballad about the hometown of Ericksdóttir, Húsavík.
Humorous though the playful comedy undoubtedly is, the Husavik song has its merits as an original composition and has become a favorite as a likely nomination for the Oscar.
The 93rd Academy Awards ceremony will be in April in light of industry delays in film releases over 2020. This has given audiences around the globe more time to review films, and Icelandic people have had a lot to say about the Eurovision film. Many popular Icelandic actors also participated in the movie (including many as part of the Fire Saga Band), and local talk has celebrated these performances.
Icelandic Eccentricities in “Eurovision Song Contest: The Store of Fire Saga”
This comedy features a pair of rather eccentric Icelandic performers who come to represent the island nation in the annual Eurovision Song Contest. Hilarity ensues from scene one with the would-be Icelandic performers dying in a freak boating accident—blame the magic elves if you must.
The movie paints a wide brush over many European typecasts with Eurovision movie songs and performances covering everything from the protagonist Icelanders to the Russian favorite to win the contest. This playful romp into pop songwriting and local musical traditions plus the diverse mix of cultures offers plenty to amuse as personalities unfold.
Of course, as the film was produced with a largely American cast (including Ferrell and McAdams as the lovably-awkward Icelandic duo), the comedy takes some artistic license with cultural fanfare for the sake of a good chuckle, for example, in the use of more quintessentially Scandanavian names for the characters rather than Icelandic names, which can be really difficult to pronounce.
However exaggerated certain aspects of the contest might be, many of the Icelandic cultural references are actually spot-on and all the more amusing for it.
For starters, the Husavik lyrics include lines in genuine Icelandic. What’s more, the name of the song is the name of a small fishing village in the northern part of Iceland, presumably where McAdams’ character is from.
With that in mind, toward the middle of the song, listeners can imitate Ferrell’s and McAdam’s rather good pronunciation of the Icelandic lines, which translated mean:
Be with you, with you
In Húsavík by Skjálfandi
In my home town
To draw even more on the Icelandic imagery, Husavik and towns like it are filled with locals wearing much of the same traditional clothing worn by the Fire Saga Band over the course of the film. In particular, our attention was drawn to the traditional Icelandic sweaters. The real town of Husavik also has traditions of elves as well as trolls and other timeless sagas, playing further into the film’s opening disaster on the boat.
With the actual Eurovision cancelled last year (not to mention countless movie releases pushed back), the film as well as this possible Oscar song have brought much joy and amusement to viewers. Icelandic audiences are enormous fans of the Eurovision song festival, too, meaning that even these fictitious Eurovision movie songs were a breath of fresh air after a year filled with cancellations.
Icewear´s Oscar Predictions
Music composition tends to feel more walled off from other award categories at the Oscars, which is one reason why Icewear is confident that Husavik will be nominated for Best Original Song.
Other competition for the song might include “The Other Side” from Trolls World Tour, while still other films that would generally garner stiff competition appear to be less musical than anticipated, such as Disney’s new live action Mulan.
It still feels a little early to call Husavik the Oscar song frontrunner, but Icewear won’t be surprised if the Oscars at least bring us a performance of the Fire Saga Band at the ceremony itself on Sunday, April 25th.
In the meantime, we’ll count ourselves lucky that such an entertaining film such as Eurovision Fire Saga gave us this new and unexpected way to enjoy Eurovision despite the real event’s cancellation.
If you haven’t caught the film yet, the team at Icewear highly recommend it!
