MUBI

(Sunday / February 28, 2010 / 3:30am)

Human problems such as fear of death, suicide, cry, search for feelings, loneliness, lack of desire and pleasure, war, life in different mentality, change, unforgettable past, trouble, pain, and anger are all parts of this extraordinary film of beautiful and imaginative thoughts. This film is a happiness like a song, a never ending survival, a cleanliness of one’s heart, witnessing the inner nothing, temptation of goodness, and remembering the childhood. The dark and light line makes a fine line, also the differences of everyone explains more to life than just life itself, and also the excitement of finding the unknown reality. “Wings Of Desire” is a love story of a fine line between loneliness and happiness, eternity, peaceful, age, and decision. Wim Wenders created the most far-fetched film-making experience of all statement of human details. A masterpiece with the composition of connection and infinite lives of human being.

I think this film was at its best when the angels meandered about Berlin listening to the thoughts and desires of its people and acquainting the viewer with its sights. It was almost like a fictional Marker film, or Wenders’ own Tokyo-ga; I was thoroughly taken by the filmic poetry in these images. Some of the grip the film had on me was lessened when the narrative took prevalence near the end, but everything building up to that point was so wonderful that I just can’t make myself find too much at fault with that, even if I should. Especially considering the cinematographic beauty of it all.

Sometimes you just get lucky and doubly happen to be in the right place at the right time. Having Peter Faulk cast as an ex-angel was the third miracle element to help cement Wings Of Desire as one of the monumental films of decade called the 1980’s adding that just right touch of magic. If Wim Wenders made no other films than this and his opus on the American west – Paris, Texas, he could still be considered one of our great film makers in modern times

Life does work in strange ways and not always just. As of the 2009 Criterion release of this film arrives, in the 20 years hence, Wenders has not come close to making anything so grand or inspiring. Wings Of Desire remains a true original as he captures the last ghost of old Europe just before the borders come down forever. Nothing can ever be the same.

Wings of Desire is a humble meditation of humanity, morality and mortality that features a soothingly meandering narrative, magnificent sprawling cinematography and ingenious sound design (the wall of whispers and the Blowup reminiscent scenes at the end!). Needless to say, it is fantastic!

I saw this in theatres as part of the Berlin Nights Film Festival and am very thankful that I did; the cinematography truly thrives with the increased screen size.

Wim Wenders captures the nature of desire, the achingly sublime dimensions of human emotion, suspended it seems between euphoria and melancholy, yet calling us on like the eternal siren song until we crash, blissfully or miserably, on love’s beckoning shores. Wings Of Desire examines what it is to be human and to yearn, to be led by the heart and not the head, by the body and not the mind. The device Wenders uses to unlock his fable comes in the form of 2 burly, pony-tailed, winter coated and unlikely Angels, Damiel and Cassiel (Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander respectively).

These angels have been around forever, and can listen in on human thoughts as they flit from shoulder to shoulder, observing but importantly not intervening. Wenders shows them ‘on high’ to start with, looking down like gothic gargoyles from city vantage points, tall statues or buildings. Children, seemingly signifying purity of heart are able to see the angels, but not adults. As the angels mingle with the citizens we hear the minutiae of Berliners daily lives, worries and fears. The angels seem cool and unemotional but a couple of events jolt them out of their detached serenity and sow seeds of doubt as to their function. Cassiel is close to a man who suicides and feels the sudden pain and despair of that act, and Damiel falls in love with a high wire circus performer, Marion (Sloveig Dommartin).

Damiel spies Marion rehearsing her high wire act, a physically life threatening risk he has no understanding of, and as if to offer complete counterpoint to his situation she’s wearing fake angel’s wings. Her freedom on the wire is tempered by the news that the circus must fold due to lack of funds, but she will have one last high wire turn. Amidst an audience of mainly children Damiel watches her last performance and resolves to make the journey from angel to human to be with her.

Cassiel supports his friends decision to make the jump across the ether, to the realm of flesh and blood and pain and desire, where feelings have consequences. Wenders plays with the audience by introducing an American TV star (Peter Falk) as himself, only to have him revealed as one of the few to have made the crossing also. His scenes with the ‘invisible’ Damiel are sweet and touching. The urge to overly sentimentalise the scenario would prove too much for the turgid American remake, but Wenders makes no such concession. He contrasts modern Berlin with wartime footage which shows the angels as witnesses to that horrific time. Berlin in 1945, after the bombings and while the Soviets were squaring the ledger for Stalingrad was pure hell on earth, and testament to the evil we do to each other. Wenders and co-writer Peter Handke set markers for the limits of human experience, from the mysterious and ineffable to the monstrous and unpalatable. Both of these dimensions define humanity, for better or worse, yet they seem to suggest that eternal celestial detachment is no match for getting down and dirty. Ironically it’s that duality the philosophers identified as early as the Zoroastrians, the urge for an immortal, trancendant state, only to have the flesh demonised by future religious traditions instead of celebrated.

Ganz gives a beautiful central performance and Dommartin is radiant as the girl an angel would trade his wings for. The photography by Frenchman Henri Alekan of Cocteau’s ‘Beauty And The Beast’ fame is gorgeous and moves effortlessly between classic black and white and colour. A film to get lost in, again and again.

Please, please, please, ignore the truly interminable American version titled City of Angels. Wings of Desire is the real deal. It follows two angels as they invisibly roam Berlin, observing the lives of humans. Filled with heartbreaking imagery and wonderfully touching moments, Wings of Desire is one of those films that gets inside you, even if its pace and lack of incident makes it a challenge. It’s a challenge well worth taking.

This film is a breath-taking work of art.

The acting (and the chemistry between Ganz & Dommartin, two angels/friends who have seen it all from Earth’s beginning), the cinematography – the use of black & white in the Angel’s “realm”, and color in ours (symbolizing the richness and beauty we get to experience as humans) – Amazing. The poetic writing revealing the thoughts of Berlin’s citizens is fascinating…as is the main character’s conflict.

Instantly made my list of all time favorites, and pushed me to explore more of Wim Wender’s work.

Do we believe there are angels longing to be man? Would angels fall from grace to enter the skin of man? Is man greater than the angels? Or do angels tread where man dares not? Does man long to sing in choirs of angels? Angels sing in harmony in the presence of God. Man sings in discord in the presence of man. Where man and angels meet, we know not. But we may ask, have we seen? Do we know? Have we entertained angels unaware?