Wings of Desire

Wim Wenders has talked about the close relationship between motion and emotion. In this case the motion of the cinematography of the angels point of view and the emotion of one angel, Damiel (Bruno Ganz). Like most of Wender’s protagonists, he looks to listen like in Alice in the Cities. I was in Berlin last week, I walked both sides of the Wall playing Jurgen Knieper’s theme from the film on my iPod over and over, I wanted to capture that emotion of what it was like to be human. I remember distinctly from the trailer, Cassiel (Otto Sander) falling from a statue intercut with wings followed by Ganz’ sound of joy as he bleeds like a human. Incidentally the sound of his joy in that moment isn’t in the final film. I’ve seen this film three or four times over the last six years. My general feeling about it hasn’t changed, I admire it more than love it. Peter Falk’s cameo as himself is charming, his presence adds a lovely feeling of having lived a life. Henri Alekan’s cinematography is incredibly alive, the change between black and white (for the angels) and colour (for the humans) remind me how much I love the vitality of colour. Maybe Peter Handke’s deep philosophical dialogue makes the film harder to connect with emotionally or at least fully. The film’s first hour isn’t as gripping as its second, the colour makes it even more alive. The first hour is like a dream that you don’t understand. A woman says to Damiel “who knows where time begins and space ends”