Wim Wender’s supposed “magnum opus,” Wings of Desire” (Der Himmel Über Berlin, 1988) could have been a good short. At 130 minutes it seems almost two hours too long. The black-and-white cinematography (by Henri Alekan) is often impressive. Indeed, it often seems an end in-itself, rather than a narrative means. The trapeze work is striking, interestingly on the edge of plunging. And Peter Falk injects some life and a dose of even greater-than-usual Falk charm. But otherwise the angels mope as they hear the worries of the humans they watch (watch, not watch over; they are unable to intervene, and have been watching forever).They are even more depressed than those they watch.
That the angels are color blind and that the world bursts into vibrant color when they become human is a conceit (the most literal ethnocentrism) I find laughable. Was I supposed to be moved? Also, was there any reason to film and include all of Nic Cave’s turgid song "The Carney"?
Flashy cinematography, lots of camera movement (panning for lack of any ideas about what to focus on?), very static characters, near absence of plot are hallmarks of “the new German cinema” of the 1970s that was launched in part by an earlier collaboration between Wim Wenders and Peter Handke, “The Goalie’s Anxiety Before the Penalty Kick” (a title I particularly admire). Little happens. The people run the gamut from depressed to suicidal. It's hard not to suspect that the aridity is in the film-makers rather than mirroring the bleakness of postwar Europe (and not just the German masters; especially Antonioni who also seemed to value cinematography over narrative and to be contemptuous of supplying motivation to his mannequins).
In “Wings of Desire” the main character changes life forms (from an angel to a human being). and is supposed to have illuminating new insights. What they are, I couldn’t tell. The one Peter Falk mentioned was the taste of coffee and cigarettes together. My view is that only someone who has never tasted anything could find this combination rapture-inducing!
The viewer does expect some sort of rapture when the angel transformed by human desire (Bruno Ganz) finally meets and connects with the now-unemployed trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin, whose first scene has her in a paltry set of wings). Where is it? They sit in a bar spouting non-sequiturs like a parody of art films. The only eroticism in the whole long film is when the angel is still invisible and she is undressing. He puts a hand on her shoulder that seems suppportive rather than lecherous or voyeuristic.Surely "redemption by love" could be more vividly illustrated!
There are three Wim Wenders film I liked: "Kings of the Road", "The American Friend", "Paris, Texas", all of them visually dazzling and intermitently puzzling, and one other that I thought a boring disaster, "Hammett." I'd rather watch either version of "Heaven Can Wait", "Stairway to Heaven", "Angel on My Shoulder", or even the widely beloved and cloying "It's a Wonderful Life" if I have to watch humans and angels interact! I know there are people who adore "Wings of Desire," but cannot understand why!
The sky over Wenders's war-scarred Berlin is full of gentle angels wearing trench coats who listen to the tortured thoughts of mortals and try to comf...More at Family Video
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