Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Hallahf — 23 Oct 2018

'Wings of Desire" is a romantic fantasy film that was directed by Wim Winders in 1987. It follows two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), that watch over the people of Berlin. Damiel falls in love with a trapeze artist named Marion (Solveig Dommartin), but can't fully be with her in the beginning because she's human and he isn't.

It sounds very romantic but these romance aspect is overshadowed by the overly complex dialogue and the side plots. Throughout the movie, the angels have no choice but to hear to the human's thoughts.

It's understandable that the audience would have to listen to a few of those thoughts here and there but there's scenes that go on for what feels like forever of them just hearing their thoughts. What makes it even worse its that nothing came of those thoughts.

They didn't help advance the plot in any way. They dialogue was also overly complex for the simplistic movie. It did nothing but make it more confusing. Though there was one quote that helped connect all of the characters and made the story a bit more interesting.

It reads, "When the child was a child, it was the time of these questions. 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? Isn't life under the sun just a dream? Isn't what I see, hear, and smell just the mirage of a world before the world? Does evil actually exist, and are there people who are really evil? How can I be that, who I am, wasn't before I was, and that sometime I, the one I am no longer will be the one I am?" This is said by a few people in the movie and shows that they're all questioning life and the world around the.

They're questioning why they're in the positions that they are and what put them there. Regarding the acting, Bruno Ganz, Otto Sander, and Solveig Dommartin did and exceptional job. Otto Sander holds true to being the more serious angel while Bruno's Ganz's depiction of a man in love is accurate.

Solveig Dommartin really embraces the role of being this carefree spirit and nails it with how relaxed she is. Overall, "Wings of Desire" comes in at a 7.5/10. If majority of the unnecessary side-plots scenes were cut and more attention was put into expanding on the main plot of the love story, the film would have been a lot better.