Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Hxkd — 26 Oct 2018

When you envision an angel what do you see? Possibly a god-like figure of perfection with wings and a halo. Well in Wim Wenders film “Wings of Desire”, the angels travel throughout the east and west side of Berlin witnessing events and at the end of the day comparing notes with each other about what they saw.

In the film “Wings of Desire” we come to follow two angels Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) during one of the harshest time in Berlin. They can dive deep into the thoughts of people like an old holocaust victim or to hear what an arealist Marion (Solveig Dommartin) is thinking when she is afraid of falling from a trapeze rope.

As the storyline progresses at a relatively slow pace, Damiel falls in love with the arielest and spends night after night at the circus to watch her perform on the trapeze. The two angels then cross paths with a filmmaker named Peter Falk who plays himself in the film.

The cinematography of the film has its pros and cons. Some of the pros are the way the camera moves over Berlin like you are an angel. The film also changes from black and white (to show the angels viewpoint) and changes to color (to show the human viewpoint).

One thing that could have been fixed or changed is the incredible amount of time they spent panning on Marion at the circus. Wim Wenders could of had shorter scenes to progress the film better. The acting had to be one of the hardest things to do for this film because the angels Damiel and Cassiel could not really do much.

All their acting consisted of is standing beside either the arealist Marion (Solveig Dommartin), or other civilians with a straight face and look like they are supporting them. The actors did a fantastic job with the strict limitations of acting that was required for the film except for one instance.

When Damiel (as an angel) ends up meeting Peter Falk at the coffee stand in the middle of the night. The performance of Peter is almost hysterical because from the human viewpoint he is talking to nobody.

I would not consider this the best film I have ever seen it is also not the worst. Wim Wenders was successful with the film in many ways and could have done better in other ways. In some parts like the encounter with Damiel (in angel form) with Peter Falk could have been acted a little better.

Henri Alekan does a good job of keeping the human and angel viewpoints in the film separated with black and white along with color. The way the camera flew all over Berlin was a great subtle touch to put you into the angels perspective.

In total, I would give this movie a seven out of ten.