Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Racquel S — 04 Mar 2010

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing the 1987 Janus cinematic production, Wings of Desire. The movie is centered on angels sent from heaven down to Earth, and charged with watching over humanity. The angels are excluded from any human senses like smell, touch, pain, or taste. Staring actors such as Peter Falk of the hit television series Columbo. The movie is set in Berlin, Germany during the 1980's with great cinematic shots of the famous former Berlin Wall, along with one of Berlin's most beautiful libraries. Wings of Desire was written by two men well known in Germany for their work accomplishments in literature and film production. The first is distinguished veteran director, Wim Wenders. The second is the famous German poet, Peter Handke.

The main characters in the story are the two angels Cassiel, portrayed by Otto Sander, and Damiel, played by German actor Bruno Ganz. During the movie the angels view points are seen in black and white photography, whenever they meet each day to compare notes on what they encountered. Damiel expresses a desire of becoming human to Cassiel. Other main actors include; Solveig Dommartin who plays the beautiful yet troubled French trapeze artist, of whom Damiel obsesses after a visit to the Alekan Circus, which is named after director of photography Henri Alekan. Also the German actor Curt Bois plays the elderly storyteller, who frequents the library, and the angel Cassiel has taken a personal interest in. People are shown in color representing how humanity perceives the world. All this is accomplished with help from director of photography Henri Alekan.

The depiction of Damiel changes to color after taking what angel's call "The Plunge." After a brief encounter with the famous Peter Falk, who flew to Germany with the goal of shooting a film based on World War II. Damiel is enticed more than ever about becoming human. Falk carefully sips on a cup of hot coffee, while striking up a personal conversation with the invisible angel Damiel regarding humanities joys. For unknown reasons Falk is seen dressed in his famous Columbo trench coat during his role in this film. Several plots intertwine throughout the entire production. The feature's brilliant musical score emphasized important climatic moments perfectly. Jurgen Knieper proves why he was chosen to compose the music score. His choice of tones greatly help reflect mood changes within the film.

In one of the movie's climatic scenes is with Marion, and former angel Damiel, who express their love during a scene in a West Berlin night club, while background musical themes of eternity, and humanity set the mood. Daniel is now in color instead of gray representing his new claim to humanity after taking the plunge. I would recommend seeing this film for it's captivating scenes, and wonderful acting performances. Due to the film's German origin most of the dialogue is subtitled with a few exceptions where Peter Falk has lines, and when Marion projects thoughts in her head, which are heard aloud in French dialogue.

The film moves seamlessly from one plot to another, as the feature contains several unlike most movies. Each scene during the movie seems to have it's own individual theme. Wings of Desire centers on life's frequently pondered subjects like "Why are we here?" This flick divulges an intelligent perspective on what our existence might look like from a non-human view point. In conclusion, Wings of Desire takes an insightful look into the lives of ordinary everyday people, and how events in their lives have affected them. The only downside to Wings of Desire is the tedious never-ending subtitled reading. Regardless, I strongly encourage mature movie buff to see this flick. I'm not sure about angels living among us, but Wings of Desire is a "Heavenly treat!" I give it a 4 out of 5 stars on Lanette's movie rating scale.

-Lanette Dukett 1110-5.