Wings of Desire
“Der Himmel über Berlin”, Wim Wenders, 1987, West Germany/France, Black & White, 128 mins, Certificate: PG
Falling in love, falling angels. Imortal and invisible to all but to each other and human children, angels wander among us, observing us, wondering what it is to be mortal. To feel love and pain, to taste, smell and touch, to get hurt, bleed and die. When one of them, Damiel (the incomparable, so resently and suddenly departed Bruno Ganz) develops a particular affection for a lonely trapeze artist, he contemplates the possibility of actually falling and start living as a human.
This is an extraordinary fairytale for adults and old souls. A breathtakingly stunning poem in black & white. A timeless cinematic masterpiece made in a divided Germany, in a still young European Union. Now, celebrating its 30th anniversary in a united Germany, but a deeply troubled, starting to break apart Europe, it remains an ever pertinent call for togetherness and embracing otherness. Especially since unlike the angels that watch over us, almost worshiping us, we expire. Not knowing when, or how.
This is also an alternative, but perfectly fitting to our strange times love story – our thought provoking way of celebrating St Valentine’s.
Directed by Wim Wenders, one of the great masters of world cinema, “The Sky Over Berlin” (as is its original, German title) deputed at the Cannes International Film Festival in 1987, where it won the Best Director award, as well as the hearts and minds of wandering and wondering, mere mortals cinephiles.
Reviews:
“Wings of Desire envisioned this rebirth [of Berlin], and the spirit that would preside over it: human potential over abstract historical, economic and ideological forces. Damiel chooses to become one of us: “At last to guess instead of knowing. To be able to say, ‘Ah, and oh, and hey, instead of yes and Amen.” … Wings of Desire knows that, in Berlin and cities everywhere, it’s the people that count.” Phil Hoad, The Guardian
★★★★ “For me, the film is like music or a landscape: It clears a space in my mind, and in that space I can consider questions. Some of them are asked in the film: “Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?”” Roger Ebert, Rogerebert.com
“Seen through the (black-and-white) lens of veteran French cinematographer Henri Alekan and reflected in the gentle eyes of Wenders’ star angel Bruno Ganz, “Wings” is a soaring vision that appeals to the senses and the spirit.” Desson Howe, The Whasington Post
“No doubt the snaking Berlin Wall that split east and west, and which would be breached just two-and-a-half years later, epitomised the divisions that Wenders and co-writer Peter Handke explore: temporal and eternal; past and present; and seen and unseen, through the watching, invisible angels, chiefly Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), who debate the former’s desire to “enter the history of the world”, having been outside looking in for so long.” Leigh Singer, BFI