‘Poppy Field’ is a stark and urgent reminder of the ongoing journey for LGBTQ+ equality across communities in Eastern Europe. In many of these countries, the interface between culture and religion continues to define the LGBTQ+ experience, locking people into hidden worlds of love. Poppy Field is now showing at BFI Flare; book tickets here.
Let me take you back to the BFI London Film Festival 2017, where the stunning 120 BPM was about to receive its UK premiere. Sitting in my seat full of expectation, I gave little thought to any worldwide barriers the film may face. I was certainly not alone in this; after all, how many of us truly consider the global obstacles a film may still face due to its story? Do we even consider the impact of a movie on equality worldwide as we sit with our drinks and popcorn, watching the drama unfold? In many respects, we have become complacent about the critical and urgent role cinema still plays in representation and equality.
Several months after watching 120 BPM, I found myself reminded of my complacency as I scrolled through the news. I quickly came across an article about a film screening in Romania. The screening in question had been invaded by a group of people carrying religious placards while chanting homophobic slurs – the cinema at Bucharest Romanian Peasant Museum transformed from a place of art and discussion to a centre of fear. These events are, of course, not unique to Romania. In fact, across our world, LGBTQ+ movies still find themselves blocked or banned. Recent protests outside a screening of And Then We Danced in Georgia only highlighted this ongoing oppression of artistic freedom.
These events only further remind us of the importance and power of cinema in challenging inequality, fear and discrimination. In Bucharest and Georgia, protests led to a renewed sense of fear, oppression, and isolation among LGBTQ+ individuals and communities, many of whom were already hidden from view.
In Poppy Field, director Eugen Jebeleanu draws inspiration from the 120 BPM protest, blending reality with fiction through the story of police officer Cristi (Conrad Mericoffer), who struggles with his internal and external identity. Here, Cristi’s private and public persona is challenged as his unit attends a volatile anti-gay protest at a local cinema, and his secretive gay life with his boyfriend Hadi (Radouan Leflahi) is threatened. As the demonstrations take hold, Cristi finds his sexual orientation challenged by an audience member who recognises him from a previous sexual encounter, leading events to slowly spiral out of control in a toxic environment of internal and external homophobia.
Jebeleanu never allows the events at play in Poppy Field to find an easy conclusion as he explores the creation of public and private personas and the internal damage they create. Cristi is caught between two opposing worlds: one built on pre-defined masculine stereotypes, the other on love, his internalised fears creating a split identity rooted in toxicity and homophobia. Many may take umbrage at the film’s ultimate lack of any resolution—their desire for a defined conclusion dismissing the importance of the themes raised. However, the lack of a firm conclusion makes Poppy Field all the more engaging and compelling.
Poppy Field is a stark and urgent reminder of the ongoing journey for LGBTQ+ equality across communities in Eastern Europe. In many of these countries, the interface between culture and religion continues to define the LGBTQ+ experience, locking people into hidden worlds of love. Poppy Field bravely and boldly faces these issues head-on, asking us searching questions about the interface between homophobia, masculinity and culture, and it deserves protest-free screenings in its home country.
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