Reviews

Having watched this in class, i thought the film was pretty good. To be honest i thought it had a somewhat "surreal" feeling to the film. For example, right at the start of the film, the protagonist is shown jerking off while looking through his venetian blinders. We could see that everything outside the blinders were flushed out. There was no detail at all and the white part was also filtering in into the interior. Another example would the be the bathroom scene. There details from the window were completely flushed out.

Some people (such as the Cinematographer) would argue that it was just too flushed out but i thought it gave a certain feel of distanciation effect for the character and the outside world. It may not be what the director or DP would have intended it but hey, sometimes good things come by accident.

And did i say that the story was not bad? I shan't spoil that part to you guys you'd have to go watch it for yourself (if you can find it of course). Oh before i forget, let me just tell you that there was no dialogue in this film. Hell, you can even hear any sort of sound coming from the film space! It's like a silent movie, but with no exaggerated acting. The music that accompanied the film was good i thought. All in all. I'd give it a 7-7.5

Amazing! To be honest i was really really sleepy coming into class today and when i found out that we couldn't watch it in the preview theatre, i thought to myself, "Great, time to sleep". Plus when i heard that the horrible "City Of Angels" is a remake of this film, i felt that i was in store for more of "City Of Angels"' type of love, angel-ish crap.

I'm glad that i was totally wrong. Never doubt a film until you've watched it for yourself.

Wings Of Desire is a thought-provoking movie. The type that makes you stop in your normal, day-to-day routine and think of the things we rarely pause to think about. For example, the poem at the start of the film where it begins with "When a child is a child" part; i felt that it made me think about how we were the most curious when we were very young. How innocent that age was and how idyllic it would be to stay that age. Alas we all grow up. Some turn out alright. Some turn out to become Hitler.

Which brings me to the point of how this film really seems to be a commentary of Berlin and perhaps, post-World War II Germany in particular. There is a scene whereby the 2 angels are in a care and they are exchanging notes about the time of sunset and sunrise as well as what happened 10 years on that exact day. Then Cassiel is about to talk about what had happened 50 years ago, during the World War II, when Damiel cuts in and motions him to move on. It is as if Damiel is the voice of Germany and he is too ashamed to talk about the past. In fact it is suffice to say that all those flashbacks of WWII is to show the horrors that Germany had seen and endured throughout the years.

As for the how the story is shaped. I agree that it is similar to Italian Neorealism or French New Wave due to the fact that the story lacked a strong goal. Again we can say that we cannot really tell what is going to happen from one scene to the next. And while one may feel that the less-than-normal structure is too complicated. I feel that it is good that we can watch and then try to understand the many layers of storyline that is within this film. To me, it sure beats watching that dumb "City of Angels".

If there is a scene that stood out the most, i believe that the library scene is the most powerful one of all. First of all, the camera movement was breathtaking. It would dolly from one side of the second floor and then using a wire overhead, it would go to the other side. This gives us a sort of floating feel. And although one may argue that it is part of a distanciation effect. I would feel that the main purpose that Wim Wenders did that is to give us a feeling of how the angels would move around. They could walk like normal human beings but if need be, they could float as well. And then there was the thoughts that emanated from all over the library. One thought would echo and then another. In the end all of the murmurs would drown each other, as if to show the hundreds of thoughts that go on in the library. Simply said, this scene is magical.

This film has so many layers one would feel that it would not be boring to watch it more than just one time so that all the layers are uncovered one by one. Yep, better than Citizen Kane. Wings Of Desire ist nummer ein!