The
sky over Wenders' war-scarred Berlin is full of gentle, trenchcoated
angels who listen to the tortured thoughts of mortals and try
to comfort them. One, Damiel (Bruno Ganz), wishes to become
mortal after falling in love with a beautiful trapeze artist,
Marion (Solveig Dommartin). Peter Falk, as himself, assists
in the transformation by explaining the simple joys of a human
experience, such as the sublime combination of coffee and cigarettes.
Told
from the angel's point of view, the film is shot in black and
white, blossoming into color only when the angels perceive the
realities of humankind. Ultimately, Damiel determines that he
must experience humanity in full, and breaks through in to the
real world to pursue a life with Marion.
A
hugely acclaimed and multi-award winning movie including Best
Director for Wenders at Cannes 1987; which was remade in 1998
into City of Angels starring Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan.
Bruno Ganz (Damiel)
Song
of Childhood
By Peter Handke
When
the child was a child
It walked with its arms swinging,
wanted the brook to be a river,
the river to be a torrent,
and this puddle to be the sea.
When
the child was a child,
it didn’t know that it was a child,
everything was soulful,
and all souls were one.....
>
Continued
> German
version
Solveig
Dommartin (Marion), Wim Wenders
Essays,
interviews, articles:
What
is Peter Falk doing in Wings of Desire?
-
and much more at: p.o.v - a Danish Journal of Film Studies
Angels
and The Modern City - by Eric Mader Lin
Reviews:
by
Roger Ebert - Chicago Sun Times
by
Desson Howe - Washington Post
by
Anthony Leong
by
Bryant Frazer
Related:
A
Concrete Curtain - The Life and Death of the Berlin Wall
Curt Bois (Homer), Otto Sander (Cassiel)
