Review of Wings of Desire (1987) by Terri-Draper — 26 Oct 2018

Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders, is a great choice of movie if you are looking for the cinematic version of a sleeping aid. Either the medication or the movie will do a decent job of knocking you out within a half hour.

I’m not sure black and white vision of the angels is the problem or the lack of action. It is most likely the lack of coherent plot and uncomfortable dialogue. The movie begins with children watching an angel on top of a building.

One is on the back of its mother’s bicycle and the other is walking across the street. There is no issue with this scene despite the fact that the children are never seen again and the angel standing on the edge of the building more resembles a gargoyle than a heavenly being.

The camera panning all over the city and taking in the inner monologues of the depressed people in the apartment and on the subway will make you dizzy. The whole movie is a dizzy mess. The scenes seem randomly spliced together and incohesive.

One minute, you are listening to a man, whose name we don’t even learn until the credits, talk about his experience as a holocaust survivor and suddenly you are watching a circus. The worst part is probably the inner monologues.

There isn’t an ounce of positivity which seems entirely unrealistic. The only inner monologue that makes any sense and creates any sort of sympathy is the suicide case. The spoken and unspoken monologues of the trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin), are the most overrated-under developed of them all.

They are long-winded and incredibly drawn out and unless you are really paying attention to what she is saying, you’ll miss it. It sounds more like what a teenage girl would write in her diary than spoken in a major motion picture.

The only coherent thought that comes across is the feeling of terror she has before doing her final trapeze act. Speaking of that trapeze act, it was a small moment of my life I’ll never get back. The act becomes tedious as she carefully swings back and forth above the ring while striking poses showcasing her strength and flexibility.

It’s not that the act is bad, just long too long. You can only see a woman do so much swinging before you lose interest. The scene at the end of the movie where Damiel (Bruno Ganz) hands her a glass and she takes a sip is so incredibly unrealistic that you’ll want to end the movie early.

Would I give this movie a “two thumbs up” like Roger Ebert? Absolutely not. Two thumbs down. My problem is not with the actors. They tried their best. My problem is in what seems like a serious lack of scene planning on the director’s part.