Blood Red Sky
There’s evil in the sky in a sophisticated, nerve-shredding thriller that addresses topical issues with the efficiency of a streamlined bullet.
Mutter dearest: Peri Baumeister and Carl Koch
Blood Red Sky is unusual in that it’s an Anglo-German thriller that is actually in English and German. This alone wins it an extra star, to spare us from Ray Winstone putting on a German accent. And the deceptively simple premise – which begs for a headline spoiler – is neatly camouflaged by the machinery of a sophisticated script. So, best to say that Peter Thorwarth's film is a sky-high express ride that serves as a contemplation of evil in all its myriad forms.
There are actually three villains in the film, each with a different agenda. There’s the religious fanatic, the monstrous mother (who will do anything to protect her child) and, perhaps the most despicable of all, the boorish, selfish airplane passenger. In these times, it’s exciting just to encounter a film that opens in a bustling airport, only for the present to loop round and bite us in the neck. As with many a German production, Blood Red Sky starts with a clinical efficiency that settles our nerves, like a reassuring flight attendant during a nosedive. We have a bright young boy, Elias (Carl Koch), who knows his science, his beautiful mother Nadja (Peri Baumeister), who is suffering from a mysterious illness, and the intelligent, friendly physicist (Kais Setti) who befriends the boy. The plane is headed for New York and with the film’s 18 certificate firmly in place, one suspects that it won’t be all plain sailing, or even plane sailing.
In the future, the film should be looked on as a model of its genre, although it’ll be unfair to divulge what that genre is, as the full thrust of the narrative doesn’t really kick in until the second third. One can say, though, that not only is Blood Red Sky an exercise in cardiac-arresting suspense, but a moving meditation on a number of themes, namely maternal instinct, religious extremism, viral transmission and, especially, evil. Yet, as events start to escalate, the film is not without a certain macabre humour, if one can extricate oneself from behind the sofa for a quick chuckle. This is accomplished stuff, but not for dog lovers or those averse to needles. Just saying.
JAMES CAMERON-WILSON
Cast: Peri Baumeister, Alexander Scheer, Kais Setti, Carl Koch, Gordon Brown, Roland Møller, Chidi Ajufo, Kai Ivo Baulitz, Graham McTavish, Dominic Purcell, Leonie Brill, Rutger Lysen, Rainer Reiners, Valerie Vachkova, Rebecca Dyson-Smith.
Dir Peter Thorwarth, Pro Christian Becker and Benjamin Munz, Screenplay Peter Thorwarth and Stefan Holtz, Ph Yoshi Heimrath, Pro Des Uwe Stanik, Ed Knut Hake, Music Dascha Dauenhauer, Costumes Dvorakova Terezie, Sound Hubert Bartholomae.
Rat Pack Filmproduktion-Netflix.
122 mins. UK/Germany. 2021. Rel: 23 July 2021. Cert. 18.
