Wings of Desire [VHS]

Wings of Desire [VHS]
by Wim Wenders

Wings of Desire [VHS]

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Actor: Bruno Ganz, Curt Bois, Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Solveig Dommartin
Director: Wim Wenders
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language); French (Original Language); German (Original Language), Analog; Hebrew (Original Language); Turkish (Original Language)
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: MGM (Video & DVD)
Studio: MGM (Video & DVD)

VHS Movie Reviews of Wings of Desire [VHS]

Movie Review: A Movie of Cinematic Poetry and Spirituality
Summary: 5 Stars

To describe today's troubling economy, one could say, as the poet Homer says in Wings of Desire:
"The world seems to be sinking into dusk, but I tell the stories as in the beginning in my sing-song voice which sustains me, protected by the tale from the troubling present." This is only one example of many of the cinematic poetry used in Wim Wender's Wings of Desire. Homer is very reminiscent of another "Homer": The author of the Iliad. All of his dialogue and even his blocking from the library scene to the couch in the middle of the field is pure poetry.
In fact, the film itself is bookended in poetry. The movie starts with an angel Damiel writing in his journal" when the child was still a child" he had questions about the world, was not picky, and was generally more cooperative. The tale is told in German in a "sing-song" voice, "Als Das kind kind war..." He sits next to his Angel friend Cassiel (played by Otto Sadler, who would later star in the epic movie Das Boot) in a convertible with the light reflecting off the windshield in such a way that it looks like wings. Damiel and Cassiel compare notes of what they have witnessed. The angels move around unseen among the people of Berlin, reading people's thoughts and whispering comforting words to people. The people too, are not completely seen by the angels. The angels can only view the world in black and white. While privy to all that will happen in the world and to immortality, angels do not know what it is like to feel, to taste, or to be acknowledged by a stranger. Damiel tells Cassiel that while it is great to live for eternity, he sometimes gets fed up with his spiritual existence. He longs to have blackened fingers from the newspaper, to have a fever, or to be excited by a meal. Cassiel reminds him that they are there to do no more that to preserve, collect, and testify. This too is poetry.
The angels like to spend much time in the library. The library is full of books of knowledge and therefore seen as a sacred place. They are seen whispering to people who are reading, perhaps trying to inspire them. The irony is that the books contain text which the angels can see. Text, like the angels, can inspire a person only if he or she is open to it. Ironically, even though human beings cannot see angels, the angels, even though they read thoughts, cannot see the pictures painted by the imagination in the minds of the humans when reading text.
Damiel yearns to be human even more when he goes to the circus and falls in love with his own angel: a trapeze artist that is dressed like an angel. He tells Cassiel that he wants to be human. Cassiel, in another example of cinematic poetry, brings albeit reluctantly, Damiel through the Berlin wall where he transforms to the human state and everything turns to color. Damiel and Cassiel are as symbolic as the Berlin wall that they pass through, as they are opposites. Damiel, free like the West, full of dreams and the desire to choose. Cassiel on the other hand is like the East: Rigid, does as instructed, no free thought or desires.
Meanwhile in a subplot, the angels have been following Peter Falk who has come to Germany to make a film. Falk tells Damiel, "I can't see you, but I know that you are there." When Damiel turns human, he looks up Peter Falk and Falk reveals that he too used to be an angel. When Damiel asks him what to do or expect, Falk tells him that he has to figure it out and that's what makes it fun. Damiel leaves to go find his trapeze artist.
After a series of near misses, Damiel and his trapeze artist end up at the same bar. Meanwhile, in another example of cinematic poetry, Cassiel closes his eyes in the bar and then the stage lights cast three different shadows off his body, alternating and shifting location and color as if the audience is watching him break into pieces.
Lastly, after Damiel and the trapeze artist do you unite, they are seen together as she glides on the trapeze with artistic beauty and in another poetic motion, their shadows are seen dancing representing the visible and only partly visible, but as the shadows suggest that they are only partly visible, that is part of the fun.

Movie Review: Angels at Work
Summary: 5 Stars

I was under the impression that "Wings of Desire" was a unique love story and I guess it is. However that aspect of the film was almost a distraction compared to the real nature of the movie. For me, "Wings of Desire" is a brilliant cinematic concept of angels in the world around us. If that sounds overly religious or unappealling, hold on. The way director Wim Wenders brings his vision to life is the essential beauty of this movie. We almost get the impression that these angels punch in and punch out. They are sincere and they do what they can to help whenever they see the appropriate opportunity. However, they are angels; not God. We see efforts that succeed and efforts that fail and we realize that these angels can influence but not prevent. We see, through their eyes, the beautiful and the banal. Not all is good and not all is bad yet, when properly focussed, all is unique. The story follows one particular angel who falls in love and wants to experience mortality in order to experience romantic love. This is not Clarence (from "It's a Wonderful Life") but an angel who is tired of seeing and wants to actually experience. There is an interesting role played by Peter Falk that may be his best performance. In the end, of course, the angel gets his wish and his girl but I, frankly, thought that sequence was too overdone. I was still mesmerized by director Wim Wenders's concept of angels among us.

Movie Review: Wings of Desire DVD
Summary: 5 Stars

Not being a professional writer, I don't know if my review can give justice to a film like 'Wings of Desire'. The devoutly religious may find it strange that an angel would want to return to life on earth to experience the joys and sorrows of the human drama. But I see the angels as a device to profoundly expand our awareness of our common humanity with all other human beings, and our profound connection to history. A deeply poetic meditation on the human condition. I consider Wim Wenders film 'Wings of Desire' to be a modern masterpiece in the great tradition of European films.

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.

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Summary of Wings of Desire [VHS]

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

"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

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