Wings of Desire

Feb 05, 2008 - 09:28 AM PST

As a ritual, every so often I go and watch the movie Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin). It's a German film released in 1992, set mainly in the late 80s after the Cold War. It follows these 2 angels as they roam the city, unseen and unheard by the people, observing and listening to the diverse thoughts of Berliners: a pregnant woman, a painter, a broken man who thinks his girlfriend no longer loves him. In addition to the story of two angels, the film also is a meditation on Berlin's past, present, and future. The angels have always existed as angels, even before the city of Berlin existed, even before humans. There is a recurring theme of Rainer Maria Rilke's poems throughout the movie. He was a German poet who is just brilliant. One day one of the angels falls in love with this trapeze artist who is very lonely. He watches her dance alone to the music of Nick Cave. Eventually, the angel (Damiel) gives up being an angel to become human and for the first time he bleeds, sees colors, tastes food, drinks coffee. When the angel finally meets the woman at a Nick Cave concert, there is a familiarity to them, like they've known each other their whole lifes. Beautiful film that i think everyone should see. There was an American remake to it, called City of Angels, but aside from the basic premise of angels seeing humans, there is little resemblance to the original.

The angels cannot directly change events (for example, they cannot stop this one man from committing suicide), but perhaps they can suggest the possibility of hope, the intuition that we are not completely alone. It's a touching sentiment which is the heart of this movie. It suggests what it would be like to see everything but not participate in it. Sort of like wallflowers of the world, quietly observing the actions of others. A touching film that I highly recommend to anyone who has the time.

"Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?"