Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Abbie R — 04 Mar 2010

"Wings of Desire" is a very slow movie that was really boring, but behind all that it does have a lot of hidden significant meaning to other people. Wim Wenders' black and white film takes place in divided Berlin. The film is about angels that watch over the people in the city of Berlin. The angels are there to help the people who are struggling by giving them comfort and hope. I personally thought that the movie was good but could have been more exciting.

The movie focuses on two angels; Damiel and Cassiel, played by Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander respectively. Throughout the movie it shows people who are struggling and it shows the angles trying to help them by giving them comfort and hope. For example the scene when Damiel is on the train and he hears a guy that is all depressed. The guy is thinking about how he lost his family and everything else that really meant something to him. The guy continues to be depressed until Damiel puts his arm around him and gives him comfort. Once he does that, the man suddenly feels better. When an angel does comfort someone it does not guarantee that the person will get through with their struggles. For example the guy who is about to commit suicide was comforted by the angel but he still committed suicide.

As I said before, throughout the beginning of the movie, the angels were just watching over people and giving them comfort. This was probably the most boring part of the movie. It seemed like it would just be the same thing over and over again but with a different setting. I found it hard to focus when watching this part of the movie.

When viewing all these people's lives, Damiel came across a trapeze artist named Marion, played by Solveig Dommartin. The circus that she was in was shut down early and she lost her job until it starts back up again. Damiel soon fell in love with her and he was starting to question whether or not he wanted to "take the plunge" or not. "Taking the plunge" means that an angel no longer wants to be an angel so they decide to become human.

The movie did not really start to pick up until Damiel decides to become a human. He really long to experience things like time and pain. He wanted to be physically real and experience things that you and I experience everyday. Once the Damiel does become human, things in the movie start to change. For example, the movie changes from black and white to being in full color.

The entire movie is black and white, because it is in the angel's point of view. The angels are immortal and can't experience everyday things that we might take for granted like time for example. That is the reason I think it is black and white. The movie shifts to color towards once Damiel decides to "take the plunge". It turned to color because he is now a human and he can experience everything humans can.

Wim Wenders' film is a very interesting film once you think about the scenes in more detail. The dialogue of the film is very moving and sometime poetic, which can make it hard to follow for others. I think it has a lot of hidden meaning that allows your mind to wander and think about life. Roger Ebert believes that "...the film is like music or a landscape: It clears a space in my mind, and in that space I can consider questions. Some of them are asked in the film: Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?" All in all I think the movie was an good movie that could have been a lot more exciting.