Wings of Desire
by Wim Wenders
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Product details
Actor: Bruno Ganz, Curt Bois, Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Solveig DommartinDirector: Wim Wenders
Cinematographer: Henri Alekan
Editor: Peter Przygodda
Producer: Ingrid Windisch
Writer: Peter Handke
Writer: Richard Reitinger
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog; French (Original Language), Analog; German (Original Language), Analog; Turkish (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC, Original recording reissued, Subtitled
Running Time: 130 minutes
Release Date: 2000-06-06
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Orion Classics
Studio: Orion Classics
VHS Movie Reviews of Wings of Desire
Movie Review: Down to Earth
Summary: 5 Stars
Wim Wenders' gentle poem on the seductive pleasures of life itself is a must for film lovers. Not only is the film's story beautifully constructed to reveal the curious transformation of an angel into a human, but it does so with visual authority. Bruno Ganz's face -- a kind of meat-pie everyman face -- was a perfect choice to convey the transformation. Watch this, and in its wake, life will take on a new sweetness -- not surgary, but poignant.Movie Review: Living breathing poetry...
Summary: 5 Stars
Like my title suggests, `Der Himmel uber Berlin' is a film of intensely angelic proportions; a film that is the visual equivalent of a thousand beautiful strokes of the pen. Watching `Der Himmel uber Berlin' is a treat for the eyes as well as the mind. It has been hailed as Wim Wenders finest film, and while I have not seen many of his other films I must say that this would be a hard film to top. If you are only aware of the Hollywood remake of this movie (i.e. `City of Angels') then you are in for an unexpected treat, for Wenders original is a far cry from the Cage/Ryan film. This is not to be seen as a knock of `City of Angels', which just so happens to be a personal favorite of mine, but it is meant to inform you that `Der Himmel uber Berlin' is a masterpiece whereas `City of Angels' is merely a great film.
The film opens in beautiful sepia as angel Damiel watches over the city of Berlin. In fact the majority of this film is Damiel and fellow angel Cassiel walking about the city, listening to the thoughts of the men and women groping for meaning in their lives. One of the earliest sequences scales the apartments within one building, allowing us to hear what the angels hear, and it's this scene that really told me all I needed to know. This film is going to unlike anything I've ever seen before.
`Der Himmel uber Berlin' tells the story of Damiel, an angel who longs to experience the pleasures of life in the flesh, as a human, tasting the sweet air and seeing the vibrant colors, feeling the soft breathe of another and tasting their skin. As he walks the city he contemplates all that he is missing and dreams of one day forsaking his eternal forever for a chance at mortal happiness. Then his eyes fall upon the beautiful Marion, a lonely trapeze artist who captures Damiel's heart instantly. Now his longing to be a part of her world is stronger than ever and as the film draws to a close he has to make the most important decision of his life.
The idea of angels forsaking their heavenly home for the affections of women is not entirely new and or original; for if you remember, that did happen in the Bible, but what Wenders does with `Der Himmel uber Berlin' is make that action honorable, beautiful even. This film paints a vastly different picture than that of Biblical accounts. There is no adverse affects to the angels decision to leave his rightful home, just new experiences and a chance at love and `life'. What this film lacks in dramatic tension (`City of Angels' created its own) it makes up for in artistic beauty (something `City of Angels' didn't attempt to capture). `Der Himmel uber Berlin', as I mentioned, is intoxicating to watch. The sepia in which the majority of the film is shot (to capture the angels muted state) is rich and magnificent, even more so than the colors that flood Damiel's eyes upon becoming `human'. The words spoken (or should I say `thought') by the cast of characters are graceful and meaningful, words that stay with the viewer and incite him to contemplation.
The acting is also beautiful orchestrated. Bruno Ganz is flawless as Damiel, capturing his loneliness, his longing and eventually his overwhelming joy. I have never been a fan of Cage and honestly feel that his one-note performances drag down the films he inhabits. The same can be said for `City of Angels' (which thrives on Meg Ryan's magnificent performance) but nothing of the sort can be said for Ganz who embodies Damiel with believable perfection. Solveig Dommartin is effortless as Marion, the epitome of searching, an individual longing to be found by something deserving of her affections. Otto Sander delivers superbly as Cassiel and Peter Falk (who plays himself in an interesting twist) gives a very honest and tender performance.
In the end it is Wim Wenders whose star shines the brightest though. His direction is effortless and beautiful. He creates an intoxicating masterpiece that will be hard to top. `Der Himmel uber Berlin' is a strange and unique journey, but it is a journey well worth taking. Allow yourself to be carried away by its poetry; I promise you will be richly rewarded.
Movie Review: Wim Wenders' best film
Summary: 5 Stars
Though some can argue about Paris, Texas or the likes of Faraway, So Close!, I believe this to be Wim Wenders' best film.
It serves as not only a poem of romance, but as one for life and love of the city of Berlin. The plot follows a lonely angel who falls in love and wishes for life, even knowing all the hardships and heartbreaks that are included.
Wenders paints a beautiful picture with the words and actions of the characters. A truly uplifting film.
The DVD includes a Wenders commentary, deleted scenes with commentary, a documentary and trailers.
One of the best movies of all time.
Must See.
Movie Review: Wings of Desire, about quality
Summary: 5 Stars
That wasn't first purchase from AMAZON. Liked the movie a lot. Very good quality.
Thank you.
Movie Review: They always have been here.
Summary: 5 Stars
Whether or not you believe in angels, this is a view you should like. "Wings of Desire" (or "Angels over Berlin" in the German release) looks at angels in a way that feel right. They have always been here, even before `time'. They view and record all things that happen and try to understand humans. There are many, but we focus in on two. They try (sometimes with limited success) to help people who need a little boast, but can not directly interact.. they cannot move or change anything that is solid. And, sad to say, they only see in black and white. So when one angel yearns to touch, to feel, to taste coffee, he looses his immortality and is brought into the real world. The divided city of Berlin serves as the backdrop for the separation of humans and angels.... And it is into the no-man land between the walls that he crosses over.
Summary of Wings of Desire
"There are angels over the streets of Berlin," quotes the movie poster, but these are like no angels you've ever seen. Bundled in dark overcoats, they watch over the city with ears open to the heartbeat of the human soul, listening to the internal musings and yearnings of earthbound humans like existential detectives. In these delicate, astounding scenes we float through the thoughts of dozens Berlin citizens, from the weary and worn to the hopeful and young, as the angels record the magic moments for some heavenly record. But when Damiel (the empathic and sensitive Bruno Ganz) falls in love with an angel of another sort, the lonely trapeze artist Marion (willowy, sad-eyed Solveig Dommartin), he gives up the contemplation and observation of life to experience it himself.Wim Wenders's most purely romantic film is like poetry on celluloid, a celebration of the transient and fragile moments of being human: the warmth of a cup of coffee on a cold day, the embrace of a friend, the touch of a lover, the rapture of love. Opening with an angel's-eye view of Berlin in silvery black and white (delicately captured by the great cinematographer Henri Alekan, who photographed Jean Cocteau's Beauty and the Beast 40 years earlier), it transforms into a gauzy color world when Damiel "crosses over" by sheer will. Peter Falk plays himself as a fallen angel with a special sensitivity for celestial visitors ("I can't see you, but I know you're there," he proclaims), and Otto Sander, whose smiling eyes brighten a face etched by eons of waiting and watching, is Damiel's partner. Wenders made a sequel in 1993, Faraway, So Close, and Hollywood remade the film as City of Angels with Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. --Sean Axmaker
From Oscar(r)-nominated* writer/director Wim Wenders (Buena Vista Social Club) comes this "exhilarating" (Vanity Fair) and life-affirming tale that won him the 1987 Best Director award at the Cannes Film Festival and inspired City of Angels. Co-written with Peter Handke, this "enchanting" (The New York Times) film about the joy of life is "that rare thing a work of true originality" (Newsweek)! Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is a lonely angel who roams the streets of Berlin providing comfort to mortals in need. But when he is drawn into the life of a beautifuland troubledtrapeze artist, 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, Damiel is faced with a most difficult decision: either give up love or lose his eternal wings forever! *1999: Documentary Feature, Buena Vista Social Club
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