Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Zen N — 04 Apr 2011

A deeply personal and exhaustive rumination on what it means to be human. While this idea would be lifted for the American disaster City of Angels, this film actually has something to offer the viewer besides the satisfaction of seeing Meg Ryan get plowed by a semi. Not only does Wender's camera gorgeously glide around the city and the people who inhabit it in a manner that gives the viewer their own celestial insight into our world, he also builds a sort of human poetry by layering the inner monologues of the German people. Bruno Ganz is excellent as usual as an angel who just longs to feel even though he understands the anguish that comes along with being human.

The film is also an important historical source. As Ganz paces around the viewer gets a glimpse of a Berlin divided. Not only is it still reeling from the Second World War and subsequent Cold War, we get to see shots of the Berlin wall. Wender even risked getting footage of East Berlin which he had to do from inside his van a la Alfred Hitchcock. Due to it's meager pace, I do not believe that it is a film I will revisit frequently. However, this film has a lot to offer and is a great piece of German cinema.