Wings of Desire Movie Review

Did you ever see a movie that everyone in the world was raving about, that won a fistful of awards, that was considered the director's masterpiece, and that did absolutely nothing for you, so you shut up about it in mixed company? And then the director made a sequel five years later, so you disqualified yourself from reviewing it, but the sequel did not become the subject of mixed company, so at least you didn't have to go into seclusion. If you deify the projector that unleashes Wings of Desire, you are probably right. It's a Wonderful Life and 2001: A Space Odyssey are also considered by many to be the masterpieces of Frank Capra and Stanley Kubrick, directors who mean much more to me than Wim Wenders does, so I've listened to skillions of explanations about why I should love those flicks, too, and I don't. Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are Der Himmel uber Berlin (Angels over Berlin). Ganz’ angel falls in love with Marion, a circus acrobat (Solveig Dommartin), and decides to be mortal again. Curt Bois (1900–91), who played the pickpocket in Casablanca, is in it, too, as Homer, and Peter Falk is sublime as himself. Combined running time of Wings of Desire and the sequel Angel in the Pizza Parlor—scratch that—Faraway, So Close: four and a half hours. Why do angels see the world in black and white? I give it four bones for the cognoscenti, but for myself, no comment. AKA: Der Himmel Uber Berlin.

1988 (PG-13) 130m/C GE Bruno Ganz, Peter Falk, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois; D: Wim Wenders; W: Wim Wenders, Peter Handke; C: Henri Alekan; M: Jurgen Knieper. Independent Spirit Awards ‘89: Best Foreign Film; Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards ‘88: Best Cinematography, Best Foreign Film; New York Film Critics Awards ‘88: Best Cinematography; National Society of Film Critics Awards ‘88: Best Cinematography. VHS, LV