The Criterion Film Of The Week

[Abdrewes]

^^^
Yes. What makes metaphysical rimances so intriguing? A number of my favorite films are about a love that can transcend time and space: Solaris, La Jettee, A Matter of Life and Death & even Deja Vu. It's probably attributable to our egos: we all want to feel much more significant than we are, that our emotions and struggles somehow cast a shadow on the world.

It's been about three years since I've seen this film, but there are still a number of powerful images and sounds still lodged in my head.

[Alex DeLarge]

Great reviews and insights by everyone! I hope that this thread grows as some may be a bit intimidated to write a full review or analysis...but they shouldn't be:-) This is the place to write a few sentences or paragraphs about your feelings and thoughts where there are no right or wrong answers. I've found everyone here to be supportive of those just testing the waters of cinema's potential. Years ago, WINGS OF DESIRE became the film that led me away from the mainstream, that showed me the potential for cinema as an Art form. Loud brash Hollywood movies made me numb; Wenders made me actually feel. I share with you a few words about a film that continues to touch me deeply.

“All the lonely people, where do they all come from?”

Damiel’s fall separates him from Grace like the barbed-wire serpent that divides Berlin, his brief life now written like graffiti upon the cold concrete of this silent sentinel. Director Wim Wenders creates a visual poem concerning the dichotomy of life: the joys and sorrows, the sufferings and laughter, the sublime pleasures and the stark reality of its sputtering end.

This temporary beauty is realized from an objective position, as Damiel and Cassiel are angels who preserve the tiny mysteries and emotional toils of Berlin’s people, eternally witnessing but never able to experience them. They are removed from the sense of touch or warm breath of sleep, a monochrome existence that is mostly impotent to change the world, like a vapor drifting endlessly through the sky. These angels collect history and safeguard it from the dark night of forgetfulness: to speak of it and keep it forever alive, even the elemental age before mankind descended from its primitive ancestry. But Damiel becomes fascinated with a lonely woman, her thoughts a jumble of emotion and fear, a forlorn smile through a glass darkly towards an unknown destination. And he wishes to become fragile flesh and bone, to meet her and suffer hope without prescience. Damiel surprisingly meets another who embraced this mortal coil, a deft cameo by Peter Faulk who plays himself, working in Berlin to film a WWII action flick.

Wim Wenders layers the film with overlapping narration, random thoughts and reflections as the angels listen into private worlds: soothing a dying man or bestowing a gentle touch upon a brow to ease a grievous burden. Berlin becomes the allegory, split like heaven and hell, its inhabitants separated like angels and mortals. Wenders’ camera is like a ghost, flying above the city or walking through walls, turning slowly and spinning in small apartments, caressing the narrative with feathery wings, and sometimes floating into sharp close-up to examine the bitter terrain of a stoic visage.

Damiel makes his decision in purgatory, the No Man’s Land between East and West, and has only his tattered clothes and bronze shell to begin anew. The film abruptly changes to quixotic oversaturated colors when seen subjectively from a human perspective, and here Wenders’ camera remains rooted firmly upon terra firma. Damiel’s obsession is Marion, a lonely woman who struggles against the bondage of gravity, a trapeze artist who finally loses her wings too…but retains her angelic humanity.

[Scottie]

Wim Wenders' 1987 fantasy film, Wings of Desire, follows the story of two angels experiencing the world from the outside. Damiel (portrayed by Bruno Ganz) longs to be mortal so that he can finally experience the world for himself, and not through the mortals' shoes. Cassiel (portrayed by Otto Sanders), while still intrigued by what it would be like to experience the world as a mortal, seems more hesitant to give up his wings so easily. Everything changes for Damiel when he meets Marion, a circus performer, and his desire to become human is greater than ever.

What I enjoyed the most about this film was the use of colors. The angels, who have existed before Berlin was even a city, view the world in black and white. This could be due to them not experiencing any emotion or feelings and not knowing what anything stands for. On the other hand, the mortals view the world in color. I thought the film was also a good example of Berlin's history. We see how it started off as nothing and became something.

Am I the only one who felt as if the old man wandering around and trying to figure out what the world has become was a fallen angel, as well?

Overall, there was great acting and a memorable performance by Peter Falk. While not my favorite film by any means, it was still interesting and very unique.

Originally Posted by Alex DeLarge

[Show spoiler]Great reviews and insights by everyone! I hope that this thread grows as some may be a bit intimidated to write a full review or analysis...but they shouldn't be:-) This is the place to write a few sentences or paragraphs about your feelings and thoughts where there are no right or wrong answers. I've found everyone here to be supportive of those just testing the waters of cinema's potential. Years ago, WINGS OF DESIRE became the film that led me away from the mainstream, that showed me the potential for cinema as an Art form. Loud brash Hollywood movies made me numb; Wenders made me actually feel. I share with you a few words about a film that continues to touch me deeply.

“All the lonely people, where do they all come from?”

Damiel’s fall separates him from Grace like the barbed-wire serpent that divides Berlin, his brief life now written like graffiti upon the cold concrete of this silent sentinel. Director Wim Wenders creates a visual poem concerning the dichotomy of life: the joys and sorrows, the sufferings and laughter, the sublime pleasures and the stark reality of its sputtering end.

This temporary beauty is realized from an objective position, as Damiel and Cassiel are angels who preserve the tiny mysteries and emotional toils of Berlin’s people, eternally witnessing but never able to experience them. They are removed from the sense of touch or warm breath of sleep, a monochrome existence that is mostly impotent to change the world, like a vapor drifting endlessly through the sky. These angels collect history and safeguard it from the dark night of forgetfulness: to speak of it and keep it forever alive, even the elemental age before mankind descended from its primitive ancestry. But Damiel becomes fascinated with a lonely woman, her thoughts a jumble of emotion and fear, a forlorn smile through a glass darkly towards an unknown destination. And he wishes to become fragile flesh and bone, to meet her and suffer hope without prescience. Damiel surprisingly meets another who embraced this mortal coil, a deft cameo by Peter Faulk who plays himself, working in Berlin to film a WWII action flick.

Wim Wenders layers the film with overlapping narration, random thoughts and reflections as the angels listen into private worlds: soothing a dying man or bestowing a gentle touch upon a brow to ease a grievous burden. Berlin becomes the allegory, split like heaven and hell, its inhabitants separated like angels and mortals. Wenders’ camera is like a ghost, flying above the city or walking through walls, turning slowly and spinning in small apartments, caressing the narrative with feathery wings, and sometimes floating into sharp close-up to examine the bitter terrain of a stoic visage.

Damiel makes his decision in purgatory, the No Man’s Land between East and West, and has only his tattered clothes and bronze shell to begin anew. The film abruptly changes to quixotic oversaturated colors when seen subjectively from a human perspective, and here Wenders’ camera remains rooted firmly upon terra firma. Damiel’s obsession is Marion, a lonely woman who struggles against the bondage of gravity, a trapeze artist who finally loses her wings too…but retains her angelic humanity.

What a fantastic review of this film. I definitely have a stronger appreciation after seeing this. I was a little on the fence during the entire time watching it, but this gave me new and exciting insights.

[Alex DeLarge]

Thanks iScottie! I always think of Elanor Rigby when I watch this even though the Beatles music seems antithetical to Nick Cave's hypnotic growl.

I like the idea of the old man as a fallen angel, unrecognized and lost in "paradise".

[Scottie]

Originally Posted by Alex DeLarge

Thanks iScottie! I always think of Elanor Rigby when I watch this even though the Beatles music seems antithetical to Nick Cave's hypnotic growl.

I like the idea of the old man as a fallen angel, unrecognized and lost in "paradise".

I also understand that the old man is related to the character of Homer in "The Odyssey", who was on a journey. Maybe the old man serves as the mortal version of Damiel, for example. Both were sort of on a journey of self discovery and understand.