Wings of Desire (Special Edition)
by Wim Wenders, J.M. Kenny
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Bruno Ganz, Curt Bois, Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Solveig DommartinDirector: J.M. Kenny, Wim Wenders
Writer: Peter Handke
Writer: Wim Wenders
Writer: Richard Reitinger
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language); German (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 128 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-01
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)
Movie Reviews of Wings of Desire (Special Edition)
Movie Review: Wonderful Cerebral Struggle as Angels Observes Mankind...
Summary: 5 Stars
Contemplation can be a reflection of now while in the now someone might reflect on the past, as the past and now will later help further pondering for the future. Powerful is the mind when past experiences help guide the person in the now while the now turns into the past providing new experiences for the individual. The now offers many unique experiences for individuals who pay attention to the small things in life such as a look, a nice comment, warm hands in pockets, and the smell of coffee among endless numbers of other experiences. Uniqueness is discovered through senses in the moment, as they help provide an emotional value to each experience. Previous experiences help guide the individual through feelings and rational thought. If it is a new experience then this experience will acclimate with previous experiences, which will help in future contemplation. Human thoughts are sometimes eased into motion by feelings inhabiting the mind derived from previous experiences, while current events bring new experiences that propel the emotional state in a direction, maybe, based on previous experiences. In essence, this is metacognition - a thinking of thinking.
Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire takes place in Berlin during the mid-80s where the audience can experience angels that exist in the world of mankind, but not on the physical plane of mankind. These angels exist in a world illustrated in black and white where they drift around while listening to human's thoughts while looking at them. Through a conversation between two angels the audience learns that they have been on the earth since the beginning of the world, as they function as observers for the higher power. Freely the angels drift through the divided city of Berlin, which was divided into east and west. Standing on high locations the angels view the city from above while descending on random people in order to watch and listen. Occasionally, the angels find a lost soul that seems to have drifted astray in their thoughts, which frequently is colored with darkness and a sense of lost hope. However, the angels seem to have the power to help restore the hope and desire to live through a simple touch, yet they are not always successful.
The film slowly wanders in multiple directions, as the audience is allowed to follow two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander). These two angels drift through a wide range of thoughts and characters. Wender's direction creates an atmosphere similar to being at big party where a large number of guests are deeply engaged in personal monologues where the audience can walk by anyone while tuning in and out from different monologues whenever they desire. Some of these characters in the film that the audience overhears are a man who recently lost his mother that does not feel grief, an underage prostitute that is worried about being discovered, parents being troubled by their son's music interest, and a woman giving birth. This kaleidoscope of thoughts provides a fragmented depiction of the thought, as it only allows the audience to see a small part of the thought. However, the film is interested in the source of where the thought begins, which is suggested in the opening scene when the hand writes in German and the narrator says, "When the child was a child I did not know it was a child."
Most of the time Wings of Desire misleads the audience through a number of interesting scenes and thoughts that are depicted through the many characters. One of changing moments in the film comes when Damiel listens and watches a trapeze artist in her mobile home when she is in deep thought. She first asks herself "How should I live?" to which she counters to herself by thinking that it might be the wrong question to ask. The question that changes the tone of the film is her second question, "How should I think?" When Damiel hears this, curiosity seems to grow within him, as he leans closer to her. She discloses how the world around her influences her thinking and she must close the eyes behind the eyes to truly be able to think.
Another sequence that pushes the story along is when Damiel intends to listen to Peter Falk, the real actor, who directly talks to him. Initially, Damiel is astounded, but it ebbs out while Peter Falk tells him how good it is to feel things such as rubbing the hands together and feeling the warmth, being able to taste coffee and cigarettes, and to share the moment. This moment seems to urge Damiel to seek what he cannot experience - feeling.
Wender does a brilliant job depicting the scene when Damiel turns into human, as Damiel reveals to Cassiel that he wants to experience the feeling of a bath and shave while being massaged. Color is coming to Damiel's face and they discover that he has left footsteps in the sand where mines have been concealed, which is followed by him passing out. Cassiel recognizes the danger and brings him to the Westside of Berlin where he is allowed to experience these feelings. When Damiel awakens the world is no longer black, white, or gray. Berlin has now colors, as Damiel begins to take his first steps as a naïve adult. Daniel seeks out Peter Falk who informs him that he must learn through his own experiences.
Cinematography is brilliant in this film, which helps to develop some of the film's symbolism. The method of using color for a human vision while using black and white for angels' sight adds more expressiveness to the film. Imponderably the camera flows through windows and rooms while illustrating how the angels drift from place to place.
Ultimately, Wings of Desire offers complex symbolism in a cerebral journey that opens and ends where thought begins. Hopefully, many see this wonderful story. The story's diverging and fragmented storyline is essential for the audience to participate in the film, as it otherwise would be too easy to come to the end. It should be a struggle to see this film. Wisdom is not acquired the way knowledge is acquired, but more through how one applies knowledge. The film is only a beginning for a life long journey full of experiences and thoughts colored by feelings, which eventually leads to wisdom.
Summary of Wings of Desire (Special Edition)
From Oscar®-nominated* writer/director Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club) comes this "exhilarating" (Vanity Fair) and life-affirming tale that won him the 1987 Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival and inspired City of Angels. Co-written with Peter Handke, this "enchanting" (The New York Times) film about the joy of life is "that rare thing a work of true originality" (Newsweek)! Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is a lonely angel who roams the streets of Berlin providing comfort to mortals in need. But when he is drawn into the life of a beautifuland troubledtrapeze artist, he experiences love for the first time and does everything in his power to be seen, heard and felt by her. Jeopardizing his divine position, Damiel is faced with a most difficult decision: either give up love or lose his eternal wings forever! *1999: Documentary Feature, Buena Vista Social Club"There are angels over the streets of Berlin," quotes the movie poster, but these are like no angels you've ever seen. Bundled in dark overcoats, they watch over the city with ears open to the heartbeat of the human soul, listening to the internal musings and yearnings of earthbound humans like existential detectives. In these delicate, astounding scenes we float through the thoughts of dozens Berlin citizens, from the weary and worn to the hopeful and young, as the angels record the magic moments for some heavenly record. But when Damiel (the empathic and sensitive Bruno Ganz) falls in love with an angel of another sort, the lonely trapeze artist Marion (willowy, sad-eyed Solveig Dommartin), he gives up the contemplation and observation of life to experience it himself.
Wim Wenders's most purely romantic film is like poetry on celluloid, a celebration of the transient and fragile moments of being human: the warmth of a cup of coffee on a cold day, the embrace of a friend, the touch of a lover, the rapture of love. Opening with an angel's-eye view of Berlin in silvery black and white (delicately captured by the great cinematographer Henri Alekan, who photographed Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast 40 years earlier), it transforms into a gauzy color world when Damiel "crosses over" by sheer will. Peter Falk plays himself as a fallen angel with a special sensitivity for celestial visitors ("I can't see you, but I know you're there," he proclaims), and Otto Sander, whose smiling eyes brighten a face etched by eons of waiting and watching, is Damiel's partner. Wenders made a sequel in 1993, Faraway, So Close, and Hollywood remade the film as City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. --Sean Axmaker
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