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Summary: ENTERTAINING ANGELS...
Review: "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Hebrews 13:2The world's three great religions incorporate angels as real, created entities, messengers between the world of mortals and God. And movies about angels, both good and bad, will always be messengers of film entertainment. Wim Wenders' 1988 WINGS OF DESIRE Special Edition arrives on DVD with a making-of documentary, extensive interviews, over 30 minutes of deleted footage and a commentary from Wenders. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is a lonely angel. He roams the streets of Berlin and provides comfort to needy humans. But when he is drawn into the life of a sad-eyed trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin), he experiences love for the first time and does everything in his power to be seen, heard and felt by her. Jeopardizing his divine position, he must decide: give up love or lose his wings forever.
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Summary: Profoundly Beautiful!
Review: This is a one of a kind cinematic experience, it's like nothing you've ever seen. Inspired, poetic, lyrical, mystical, beautiful, touching, all this and more, and yet the description of this movie is hard to put into words. The premise is excellent; the adventures of angels hovering over Berlin. Beautiful black & white and color imagery. The poetic dialogue is profound and beautiful, the whole cast is priceless especially Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk. Expert direction by Wim Wenders. Beautiful movie about angelic romance and has a way of reminding us of what we have and of being more grateful that we are living, it makes you ask yourself questions, and some are mentioned in the film; "Why am I me, and why not you, why am I here and why not there, where does space end and where does time begin. Truly a one of a king movie. From a scale of 1-10 I give this movie a 10!
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Summary: The ultimate art film
Review: One of the most touching films created by Wim Wenders, Wings of Desire follows two angels, one of whom decides that his love of a woman is worth more than his heavenly life watching over the recently reunified Berlin. Wenders takes you from the black-and-white world of the angels to the multi-colored world of the inhabitants of earth and challenges you to think about life and love and the important things in life. Touching cameo by Peter Falk. A moving film.
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Summary: A movie for reflection and meditation... with one DVD flaw
Review: FILM COMMENTS Probably Wim Wenders' most beloved film, "Wings of Desire" is one of those movies that works on a emotional -- rather than intellectual -- level. Interesting, since it's based on the dense -- though lovely -- poems of Rainer Maria Rilke, and sure ain't light on long, ponderous, wordy monologues. What captivates is Henri Alekan's absolutely unparallelled cinematography, and the way Wenders can move from high-minded seriousness to heartbreaking simplicity -- sometimes within a single scene. The story is spare and simple. There are guardian angels, we learn,walking invisibly among the people of Berlin, spending their time listening to mortals' thoughts and occasionally attempting to make their presence felt in desperate situations (in order to avert a suicide, for instance). One of the angels is growing tired of his eternal, weightless existence. When he falls in love with a human trapeze artist, he decides to become irreversibly mortal to pursue her This will sound familiar to fans of the U.S. film "City of Angels." That's 'cause "CoA" is based on "Wings." But unlike "CoA," "Wings" is far less concerned with plot (which doesn't fully kick in until the final hour of the film) and far more enthralled by his main character -- the city and people of Berlin. Henri Alekan's camera literally soars around the city, giving us an angel's-eye view of its places and inhabitants. He races alongside cars. He floats into and out of apartment windows. He hovers around a huge public library, tracking from intent readers, over railings, out into space. He leaps from one side of the Berlin wall to the other (the film was shot in the late eighties, before the wall miraculaously came down). He weaves through the crowd at a nightclub, and becomes tranfixed by gothic balladeer Nick Cave belting out a tune onstage. It's all shot in glorious, almost luminescent black-and-white -- I can't think of a single film that looks even remotely like this. And meanwhile, thanks to Wenders' conceit by which angels hear thoughts, we can listen in on the intimate musings of random passerby. A family man curses women as his wife punches him hysterically in the arm. A guy on a train mourns the emptiness of his life... then suddenly experiences a wave of hope as an angel touches his shoulder. Actor Peter Falk (playing himself, wonderfully) wonders if he can get a good plate of pasta in Germany. It's these beautifully photographed "eavesdropping" moments, and the delight the angels take at the small, strange pleasures of mortalness (one angel yearns to feel what it's like to wiggle one's toes) that connect so powerfully with audiences. In between, however, there's a lot -- a LOT -- of talk. Most of it reverberates poetically, and even the most impenetrable monologues are helped along by Alekan'sphotography. But occasionally, the film stumbles from poeticism into pretension. This is a movie where, just before a climactic, long-delayed kiss, a character has to pause to deliver a solioquy about lonliness. SHUT UP AND KISS, you know?! Ultimately, though, this is a great film to throw on when you've grown tired of the standard cynical, noisy Hollywood film, and are ready to reflect quietly on something truly beautiful. DVD COMMENTS This "special edition" DVD has plenty of fine extras -- including deleted scenes (at least one of which really would have improved the orginal cut of the film) and an interview documentary in which Wenders, writer Peter Handke and others discuss the unorthodox way the film was put together (no script!). But unfortunately, someone decided the movie itself needed new English subtitles, AND THEY ARE AWFUL -- overly literal, not to mention a grammatical nightmare. Which makes the film's already difficult, poetic language even harder to grasp. What's weird is that the aforementioned documentary features clips from the movie, and those clips feature the OLD, BETTER subtitles! I don't know if the previous DVD release of "Wings" features the original celluloid release's subtitles, but if it does -- and you have the cash -- I'd recommend getting this version for the extras, and the old version for simple language comprehension.
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Summary: Paradise in B&W
Review: If you have only seen the Hollywood adaptation of this, "City of Angels," you will have little idea of the magic in Wim Wenders's original. Almost by happenstance he created one of the truly great German films of the late 20th century. It is a whimsical romance, a philosophical dialogue, and a portrait of a great city -- Berlin in the years of the Wall. Peter Falk and Nick Cave put in appearances, adding their unique humor and music respectively, but the film belongs to the enchanting circus aerialist Solveig Dommartin, Bruno Ganz as the angel who watches over, then courts her, and the dozens of ordinary Berliners that Wenders observed in the course of the shooting. The special features on this DVD really are special. Aside from the audio commentary track, there's an insightful documentary that provides crucial information about the chaotic yet fruitful creative process that Wenders used. It's amazing that the final product displays so much integrity. (This sense of unity may be due largely to the inspired choice of collaborators, which included the 80-year-old cinematographer who shot "Beauty and the Beast" for Cocteau years ago. The B&W footage is incredibly subtle and fluid.) Highly recommended. Don't be put off by the first reel, which may seem stagy or overly verbal. Let the film, and the city, seduce you.
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Summary: Artistic, Poetic, Sublime!
Review: I'll confess that I've had problems in the past getting into some of Wenders' films. Many go too over the deep end on the existential and intellectual elements and result in my ending up feeling alienated. This film, however, leaves one feeling connected to the entire world plus infinity. There is an inspiring romance (in German cinema no less!) between angel turned-to-mortal Bruno Ganz and a beautiful circus performer. Before he becomes a mortal, there are wonderful moments of him and the other angels standing guard over us mortals, listening and watching us. I felt as if I were immersed in an epic poem in those scenes. This film is also beautiful, flowing like a painting and done in a mixture of black & white plus color. There are wonderful acting moments throughout by the entire cast but especially by Bruno Ganz and Peter Falk. I haven't seen Ganz in a role this good since he played the Count in "The Marquise of O" for Fassbinder. I tried watching the American remake of this movie, "City Of Angels" with Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan and couldn't bear watching what we (Americans) had done to this Cannes' award winner. Well worth owning, this film can be watched over and over, just like any great piece of art.
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Summary: EXISTENTIALISM MEETS EMOTIONS IN THIS GORGEOUS ROMANCE
Review: What an absolutely haunting delight. With its introspective pacing, which some may find slower than their cinematic taste allows, the film takes its own sweet time setting things up but it is one of the most mind-boggling romantic tropes you will see in cinema. In the end it's not just about requited loves and hopes, it also carries a heady undercurrent of other notions: displacement and the natural yearning for emotional connections that transcends humans; the unification of a divided Germany and of a divided race; and, probably above all, about the universality of cinema and its ability to allow people to live multiple lives (from multiple cultures) at the movies. When I first saw this, I thought the film's fatal flaw was its anti-climactic conclusion. Now I realise that it may be the best part of my favourite film of all time. One caution to buyers about the DVD. Many bits of the film are in German, but my DVD had no subtitles. All the gorgeous imagery (in noir-ish black and white) was thus somewhat frittered away. But it surely did make me want to see what Berlin must really be like. If you like your movies laid-back and reflective, this comes highly recommended from me.
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Summary: The Sky Over Berlin.
Review: It's ironic that so soon after Wenders shot this film in Berlin (a film about seperation and the search for unity), the wall would come tumbling down. The only entities who can transcend the wall in this movie are the angels, who are nothing but pure consciousness. The original German title for this film translates as 'The Sky Over Berlin' and I certainly think it is more apt than the English one that was chosen. For it is only the sky above their city that unites Berliners each side of the wall. The angels imprisonment in the spiritual world is undoubtedly in my mind, a metaphor for the political set-up in Berlin at that time. Whether it be West Berliners imprisoned on all sides by the communist East or the East Berliners imprsioned from the decadent freedoms of West Berlin. The angels themselves were banished to Berlin in 1945 for questioning God's intentions. As a city at the apex of 2 world wars and a cold war, there is probably no better choice in choosing it as a symbol of our century. Wenders use of documentary footage from the end of the 2nd world war is frightening in its portrayal of a city's damaged past. A past of confusion and despair that still marks the city's people through their ongoing frustrated desires. In order to retain some sense of his original 'poetic' vision, Wenders refused to finalize a shooting script before he started filming. As a result he relied on a mostly spontaneous film shoot as well as a lot of improvising from his actors.
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Summary: Haiku
Review: If my soul could speak
This film is what it would say
Wings brush past my face
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Summary: Incredible Film
Review: This movie is my all time favorite. A great story with beautiful filming. I have never been disappointed by any of Wim Wenders films. Bruno Ganz has a stellar performance in this excellent film of angels over Berlin. Definitely good for anyone looking to get into German movies, or just for anyone who wants to see how a real movie is made.(Don't see the awful hollywood spin off of this movie, City of Angels. The lighting and camera work in this movie is incredible to the point of perfection. The raw emotion you feel for the angels in this movie is astounding. Definitely a must see.
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