“Roter Himmel”
Irene and I went to see Afire (Roter Himmel) at Gene Siskel Center of Film. Leon, desperate for achieving success for his next novel, produces nothing but shit. Reluctant to acknowledge the true value of his work, Leon insists on meeting with the publisher. Leon makes a final effort on the novel before meeting with the publisher, while moving into a suburban house near the sea with his friend Felix -- a magical retreat that hopefully will fix everything.
That trip turns out to be a total disaster.
First and foremost, Leon’s novel is rejected by the publisher, unsurprisingly, in spite of Leon’s every attempt to salvage the novel by avoiding “distractions.” Leon refuses to join any activity with friends and starts to become obnoxious, pompous, and arrogant. Leon transfers his unhappiness to spicy critiques of friends in the house. He slights everybody else who tells him his work is shit.
While living by the sea, Leon falls in love with Nadja, the hostess of the house. A typical insecure male, Leon refuses to voice his admiration to Nadja. He instead condescends to Nadja, teases at Nadja’s part-time job, and avoids his love for Nadja. He insists that an ice cream seller wouldn’t be capable of capturing the worth of his book.
Leon becomes a complete stranger to his friends. He starts to avoid human contacts. He always says to his friend, Die Arbeit lässt es nicht zu. In fact, he is not doing any work. He is either lying on bed or surveilling Nadja’s bedroom.
Die Arbeit lässt es nicht zu
His insulation not only removes him from recreation activities. He becomes a shell who cares nothing but himself. He doesn’t knows that Nadja is applying for a literature PhD until his publisher reveals that to him. Nor does he know that his old friend Felix is a gay until Nadja tells him. Leon is also unaware of the apparent fact that his publisher is getting treatment for cancer, even though Leon is waiting right outside of the oncology department in the hospital.
Leon also loses Felix forever. Felix is burnt alive by the ongoing forest fire while he substitutes Leon to fix the roof. The devilish fire resonates with the title of the film (German: Roter Himmel; English: Red Sky / Afire). I think Afire is actually a misleading translation.
Leon thus willfully lets his loved ones slip away. Of course he ends up being very sad and regretful about his negligience. So he makes a novel out of his misery, which becomes the narrative of this film. Unlike his previous novel, this one gets approved. The woman he loves stays nothing beyond in yearning. His best friend was burnt alive by a forest fire while fixing the roof that he is too pompous to care about. The public gets to be transported to Europe while watching this German film, where the humorous tone leaves us confused about the nature of a tragedy.