Rating: 
Summary: amazing
Review: This movie was thought-provoking, romantic and triste. I loved Peter Falk in this movie. It was like a visual poem. It's one of those movies that is so wonderful in ways that I cannot describe with words.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite movie of all time.
Review: There are few films that take us to a place we've never been,and return to us again and again. The magic of Wenders' vision ismesmerizing. Did we tell you that things change from black and white to color? Do you understand that the central theme is love, empathy, humanity? Did I say that the angels observe the human condition from behind your shoulder and from the rooftops? Why isn't this treasure available on video or DVD? I need to watch it over and over.
Rating:
Summary: So European it hurts...
Review: Angels walking and hovering about Berlin wearing trench coats and very 80's pony-tails...can you get more European than that? Wim Wenders makes a movie whose central theme "image." The angels, unseen except by young children, walk among mortals, quietly listening, studying and somehow helping. I would like to describe the plot, but it seems so irrelevent in comparison to the images we see. How can you appreciate an angel wanting to become human (so he can find love with a trapeze artist) when you've got another angel flying through the subway system only to have an image of a bevy of bombers raging in on the city in old WWII footage while an old German recites Peter Handke poetry, "Was kinder kinder was..."? A great movie, and defintely the most European movie I've ever seen.
Rating:
Summary: A sense of vision in our time
Review: This is a film about angels in Berlin before the wall came down. These are angels that Rilke would have understood. Not sentimental like It's a Wonderful Life, and infinitely more intense than it's wannabe remake as City of Angels.Peter Falk plays himself in a way in, well, you have to see the movie to understand, but it is one of his best roles, and I don't want to give away any of the incredibly rich plot. Part of it's charm and intensity are in the conversations between the angels and also how they try to help us on the plane of thoughts and emotions. These angels go everywhere, even to the circus, where some small children even see them and they nod to each other. Oh, yes, and who can ever forget the scene in the library where the angels hover above readers of all ages, listening to their thoughts, wishing for them, it seems.... And listening the the thoughts of the young streetwalker, the man about to commit suicide, anohter whose mother has just died, an old poet in the industrial wasteland, observing a certain shift of light in the afternoon.... In the midst of these conditions, one angel played by Bruno Gans, falls in love and decides to become human, to become mortal, to become vulnerable in all senses. This and its sequel are two of the great ones of the last twenty five years, maybe in in movie history....
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Summary: Wonderful Cerebral Struggle as Angels Observes Mankind...
Review: Contemplation can be a reflection of now while in the now someone might reflect on the past, as the past and now will later help further pondering for the future. Powerful is the mind when past experiences help guide the person in the now while the now turns into the past providing new experiences for the individual. The now offers many unique experiences for individuals who pay attention to the small things in life such as a look, a nice comment, warm hands in pockets, and the smell of coffee among endless numbers of other experiences. Uniqueness is discovered through senses in the moment, as they help provide an emotional value to each experience. Previous experiences help guide the individual through feelings and rational thought. If it is a new experience then this experience will acclimate with previous experiences, which will help in future contemplation. Human thoughts are sometimes eased into motion by feelings inhabiting the mind derived from previous experiences, while current events bring new experiences that propel the emotional state in a direction, maybe, based on previous experiences. In essence, this is metacognition - a thinking of thinking.
Wim Wenders' film Wings of Desire takes place in Berlin during the mid-80s where the audience can experience angels that exist in the world of mankind, but not on the physical plane of mankind. These angels exist in a world illustrated in black and white where they drift around while listening to human's thoughts while looking at them. Through a conversation between two angels the audience learns that they have been on the earth since the beginning of the world, as they function as observers for the higher power. Freely the angels drift through the divided city of Berlin, which was divided into east and west. Standing on high locations the angels view the city from above while descending on random people in order to watch and listen. Occasionally, the angels find a lost soul that seems to have drifted astray in their thoughts, which frequently is colored with darkness and a sense of lost hope. However, the angels seem to have the power to help restore the hope and desire to live through a simple touch, yet they are not always successful.
The film slowly wanders in multiple directions, as the audience is allowed to follow two angels, Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander). These two angels drift through a wide range of thoughts and characters. Wender's direction creates an atmosphere similar to being at big party where a large number of guests are deeply engaged in personal monologues where the audience can walk by anyone while tuning in and out from different monologues whenever they desire. Some of these characters in the film that the audience overhears are a man who recently lost his mother that does not feel grief, an underage prostitute that is worried about being discovered, parents being troubled by their son's music interest, and a woman giving birth. This kaleidoscope of thoughts provides a fragmented depiction of the thought, as it only allows the audience to see a small part of the thought. However, the film is interested in the source of where the thought begins, which is suggested in the opening scene when the hand writes in German and the narrator says, "When the child was a child I did not know it was a child."
Most of the time Wings of Desire misleads the audience through a number of interesting scenes and thoughts that are depicted through the many characters. One of changing moments in the film comes when Damiel listens and watches a trapeze artist in her mobile home when she is in deep thought. She first asks herself "How should I live?" to which she counters to herself by thinking that it might be the wrong question to ask. The question that changes the tone of the film is her second question, "How should I think?" When Damiel hears this, curiosity seems to grow within him, as he leans closer to her. She discloses how the world around her influences her thinking and she must close the eyes behind the eyes to truly be able to think.
Another sequence that pushes the story along is when Damiel intends to listen to Peter Falk, the real actor, who directly talks to him. Initially, Damiel is astounded, but it ebbs out while Peter Falk tells him how good it is to feel things such as rubbing the hands together and feeling the warmth, being able to taste coffee and cigarettes, and to share the moment. This moment seems to urge Damiel to seek what he cannot experience - feeling.
Wender does a brilliant job depicting the scene when Damiel turns into human, as Damiel reveals to Cassiel that he wants to experience the feeling of a bath and shave while being massaged. Color is coming to Damiel's face and they discover that he has left footsteps in the sand where mines have been concealed, which is followed by him passing out. Cassiel recognizes the danger and brings him to the Westside of Berlin where he is allowed to experience these feelings. When Damiel awakens the world is no longer black, white, or gray. Berlin has now colors, as Damiel begins to take his first steps as a naïve adult. Daniel seeks out Peter Falk who informs him that he must learn through his own experiences.
Cinematography is brilliant in this film, which helps to develop some of the film's symbolism. The method of using color for a human vision while using black and white for angels' sight adds more expressiveness to the film. Imponderably the camera flows through windows and rooms while illustrating how the angels drift from place to place.
Ultimately, Wings of Desire offers complex symbolism in a cerebral journey that opens and ends where thought begins. Hopefully, many see this wonderful story. The story's diverging and fragmented storyline is essential for the audience to participate in the film, as it otherwise would be too easy to come to the end. It should be a struggle to see this film. Wisdom is not acquired the way knowledge is acquired, but more through how one applies knowledge. The film is only a beginning for a life long journey full of experiences and thoughts colored by feelings, which eventually leads to wisdom.
Rating: 
Summary: Visually Beautiful Film
Review: This film is the best portrayal of the inner monologues of ordinary people as they go through their day-to-day lives. Each of us knows our own thoughts -- often masked by a cheery exterior -- but what are other people really thinking? Two angels who live in Berlin have the ability to listen to what people say to themselves as they go through their daily lives. They can occasionally comfort, but can never physically act to engage people and have little ability to affect the sometimes tragic outcomes. Very few persons have the psychic ability to recognize that the angels are there.
Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander are perfectly cast as angels, and Solveing Dommartin is the beautiful trapeze artist who strikes the right notes of sadness and wistfulness. Peter Falk provides an interesting counterpoint. But the real star of this film is Berlin itself, and it is right that the DVD provides as an "extra" a description of the various places where the movie was made. As the film was made in 1987, the Berlin wall is seen from many angles. There is an amazing scene where the angels go through the Berlin wall (covered with graffiti on one side, barren on the other.)
This is visually the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. What makes this film special is the incredible, dreamlike photography. We see Berlin from all angles. The fact that it is filmed primarily in black and white only adds to the somber, but surreal feeling. Where the film falls down a bit is in the plot, which sometimes lags. But it is impossible to walk away from it without thinking about, and rejoicing in, what makes us human. Given a choice, would we prefer to be angels, who can see all, but cannot act? Or would we choose to be human, and bear the traumas that come with it? This film is definitely worth seeing.
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Summary: Wim Wenders' poetic masterpiece
Review: Wim Wenders' reflective, ethereal masterpiece is a provocative tale of love and longing, an observation about life as we suspect it may be, embedded in a culture that has become increasingly compartmentalized.
Expertly weaving in Peter Handke's "Song of Childhood" throughout the story, Wenders' protagonist, the angel Damiel, observes the cycle of human life: the children (who see the angels) and know what adults can no longer see or embrace; the aging man silently noting the course of human history in an empty lot in Berlin...through the lens, Wenders is searching, for that something intangible that has the ability to connect one person to another and another.
I have watched this film over and over and pay less attention to the plot each time, looking for meaning, as Wenders seems to be, in the margins. "When the child was a child..." Handke's poem reminds us, everything was new, and existential wonder spurned a thousand questions that as adults, were replaced by routines that nurture little more than our basic needs.
Wenders' point of view, though is hopeful and inspires the viewer to find the child that lives in all of us. Peter Falk's cameo role is indispensible in that regard as he helps to facilitate a turning point in Damiel's heavenly life. In the end we see the birth of a man infused with the untainted spirit of a child, a man who lives as, I believe, life should be lived.
Rating:
Summary: Great!
Review: Ex-angel meets his fantasy girl at a Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds gig.
Rating: 
Summary: "The Heavens Over Berlin."
Review: In "Wings of Desire" from Wim Wenders Angels Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are assigned to overlook the lives of the mortals in the city of Berlin. They observe, and comfort various members of the human race--but may not interfere. During the course of his observations, Damiel falls in love with a circus trapeze performer Marion (Solveig Dommartin) and desires to become human.
The city of Berlin--with its troubled past--seems to be the centre of the film, and this is the film's most interesting aspect. The cinematography is skilled, and the angle of some of the shots quite unique, but the entire premise of the angels overseeing humankind is grating. I enjoy foreign film a great deal, but "Wings of Desire" is a pretentious and ponderous film. The yawnfest of a plot crossed over the line of 'willing suspension of disbelief,' and even the film's beauty did not recoup from the pretentiousness of the navel-gazing story--displacedhuman
Rating:
Summary: An angel sees a woman and wants to be a man
Review: Frankly this is a sweet, slow paced, somewhat plodding film that is genuine and lovely. In mostly German and black and white, Berlin is featured as the setting for a world not only of Berliners struggling and curious about life, but a population of angels, offering assistance, observing in meditation, discussing among themselves the nature of existence.
Damiel is one of these angels, who with fellow angel Cassiel, makes the rounds of Berlin. Conscious of the brilliance inherent in everything, aware of the children who can see them, aware of the depth of each and every soul, present on the shoulders of the loneliest, oldest, most heart-broken and reverent, these angels serve humanity. But when a lovely, lonely, powerfully angelic high-wire/trapeze/circus performer named Marion catches the heart of Damiel, he realizes that to be an immortal angel has had it's draw backs, and mortal life's short lived, but vital intensity is greater, especially when it comes to matters of the heart.
Such is the basic Wings of Desire. Truly a lovely film, distinct in it's spirituality and meditative quality. Slow at times, especially in the middle, before it becomes apparent that something is going to happen.
I understand too that this film inspired City of Angels. I haven't seen that film, but would be surprised if Hollywood could match this film's nature.
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