Welcome, one and all, to an all new Reaction & Review. Tonight, ladies and gentlemen, I'm gonna be covering a film from 1987. That movie is "Wings of Desire".
Now, I have a bit of a story about this movie. You see, years ago, I was watching TV late one night and I happened to stumble across this movie on TCM. I'm not exactly sure how far into the movie it was, because I caught it at random. But what I watched looked really fascinating, and I wanted to keep watching more of it. Unfortunately, like I said, I caught it pretty late. And it was about 1 o'clock in the morning when I watched it, so I had to turn it off and get some sleep. And for the longest time, I couldn't remember the title of the movie. I knew it had something to do with angels, but I just could NOT remember the title. And then as time went on, I was slowly remembering bits and pieces about the title. Like, I was remembering something about angels and wings, but my memory still wasn't clicking yet. It took a while longer after that before I finally remembered the actual title of the movie. Now the only problem was trying to find a copy of it, because it was a pretty rare movie to find. I know it was released under the Criterion Collection, but I didn't figure that out until recently, so I didn't get it from them. Plus, the DVD's and Blu-rays that Criterion releases are also pretty steep in their pricing. Thankfully though, I was able to find a different copy of it for about $10. So, I'm hoping it's worth the purchase after I'm done watching this thing.
As for what I know about the movie itself, like I said, I know it has something to do with angels, and that it's directed by a man named Wim Wenders. I also know that this movie was made shortly before the Berlin Wall fell. And if you don't know the story about that, look it up, it's a rather pivotal moment in history and you're bound to find plenty of stories about it online. But getting back to what I know about tonight movie's going in, I also know that the movie stars Bruno Ganz. And I've seen one other movie that he starred in, which was called "Downfall". Which was the story about the last days of Hitler and the Third Reich in the bunker. It's a pretty good movie, though, personally speaking, I thought it ran on a little bit too long for my tastes. But still, I would totally recommend it, especially if you're a history buff. So, knowing that Bruno Ganz stars in this movie, I am totally all for it. Because he was really good in "Downfall", so I have the highest of hopes that he'll pull off something similar in this movie.
I'm hoping that this thing is going to be really good. In fact, I've heard nothing but positive things about this movie. And I'm certainly hoping that what little I watched on TCM all those years ago will be what I experience tonight. But I'm also gonna be a bit cautious because, even though this thing has been massively praised by a lot of people, I also know that it could be just a tedious, dull experience. And that it may not live up to that high amount of praise that it got. I'm certainly hoping that it does, though. And the only way I'm gonna find out how good this movie could possibly be, is if I shut up, and I push play, and I'm gonna do that right now. So, without further ado, it's time to kick back, relax, and check out "Wings of Desire".
17 minutes later
Well, guys, I'm not able to say very much about the movie right now. But what I can say is that I'm really getting sucked into this story already. I'm kinda hoping it's able to stay this way throughout the rest of the movie. And if it doesn't, then I'm gonna be sorely disappointed.
7 minutes later
Wow...guys, that scene there with our angel providing comfort to this stranger was just...beautiful. I wasn't really expecting much from it, but the way it was handled made that small scene great. I'm actually really impressed by that.
20 minutes later
Guys, I'm sorry I haven't been saying very much about the movie itself. But, god damn it, this story is just so fucking good! I'm really curious to see where all of this is going.
6 minutes later
All right, I gotta ask this. A lot of these hats that I'm seeing Peter Falk put on look very similar to each other. I mean, OK, there are a couple of hats that aren't dark as hell, but how the hell would he know about picking which one that makes him look anonymous? Granted, I'm not a hat expert, but, like I said, a lot of them look very similar to each other. I don't think a lot of them are gonna look anonymous if most of them are similar to each other. I understand that what I'm commenting on is all trivial and stupid, but it is something that I kinda wanted to mention.
19 minutes later
OK, I think now is the time to mention this. Now this is, like, the third time that this movie has decided to go in color. Now I'm sure there's a meaning to this, but it is a little bit distracting. Mind you, I am not dumping on this movie, but it is very noticeable, especially when you consider that 90% of the movie has been in black and white. I'm just saying that I'm hoping there's a reason behind this.
19 minutes later
Once more, guys, I'm really sorry that I don't have a lot to say about the movie. I know I should be commenting more about it, but this story is just so good, and so interesting, that I can't take my eyes off it. I'm really loving this movie, guys.
The Review
And the movie ends with a 'To Be Continued'...interesting. Well, I'll ponder on that later. Anyway, guys, that was "Wings of Desire". Let me shut the movie off...OK. Wow...what to start with? Well, I guess, going into it, I had really high hopes. Because when I briefly saw this movie on TV years ago, it really fascinated me. And I was hoping that when I watched it for this series, I was hoping that what I experienced back then was gonna be the same experience I watched tonight. Well, I can honestly say that it definitely lived up to what I watched all those years ago. And it actually turned out even better, now that I've finally gotten a chance to watch it in it's entirety.
Now that I've finally got that introduction out of the way, let's actually talk about the film itself, shall we? And there's no better way to start than with the writing. Our story here is incredibly simple, but yet so good at the same time. So we have these two angels, both played by Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander, observing the people of Berlin as they go about their daily lives. And through the angels perspectives, they're able to hear what they're thinking, whether it's a baby able to see things while being carried by the back from it's parent, or with a guy on a subway train about how he feels that he has been betrayed by his wife and how his parents disowned him, or this storyteller that Cassiel, the angel played by Otto Sander, follows. The storyteller definitely gets a lot of time in this movie, as he's trying to find this city called Potsdamer Platz that he use to be a part of. But anyway, the angels are there to hear what they're thinking. And in some cases, they try to provide comfort to those that are suffering in their lives. I brought it up way early on, but I mentioned the stranger that was on the subway train that felt betrayed by his wife, disowned by his parents, and his children only recognizing him through his stuttering. That scene where Damiel, the angel played by Bruno Ganz, is giving him comfort, is such a touching scene. It's short, and it definitely goes by pretty quickly after that, but the way the movie handled it was so good that it almost left me speechless. As for the plot itself, Damiel is tired of living behind the world as an angel. He wants to live how other people live by doing mundane activities that people do everyday. Whether it's getting a cup of coffee, listening to music at a bar, smoking a cigarette, feeling pain, wanting to come home to a family he would love to have. Those are just a few examples I gave out, but there's a lot that Damiel listed that would be too much to count. Point is, he just wants to live an everyday life like we do. And he also falls in love with a trapeze artist, who definitely has a story of her own that I won't go too much into. And Damiel has to make a decision on whether or not he should break into the mortal world to be with her or stay an angel forever. Now normally, a plot like this shouldn't sound interesting. And by itself, it does sound kinda boring. But I'm gonna tell you, guys, this movie handles this premise so incredibly well that I couldn't take my eyes off where they were going to go next. This movie is going to keep you engaged on where it wants to go and it's damn near addicting to see it play itself out.
That being said, this is going to lead into a bit of a problem for some people. You see, this movie has a VERY slow boil. Meaning that it's not just gonna rush through everything in order to get to it's conclusion. This movie is about 2 hours and 8 minutes long. And it definitely takes it's time to build up it's story. And to some people, they're gonna see this movie as a huge pacing issue. And to an extent, I can understand why you would think that. Because, like I said, this movie really likes to take it's time to build up it's story. And admittedly, there might've been a couple of scenes that they could've trimmed down, such as anything involving the circus. But personally, I didn't mind any of that, because I was too fascinated by where this movie was going that I didn't notice it too much. But it could definitely be seen by others who might see this movie as it being too slow. Another problem I could see is that some people will think that this movie doesn't offer a lot of explanation on certain things. For example, for a long time, I didn't understand why this movie, on certain occasions, will switch from black and white to color. I thought maybe it was some sort of stylistic choice for the movie. And for a while, it kinda bugged me. Well, it wasn't until around an hour and a half into the movie in which they actually sorta clarify the whole black and white/color aspect of the film. I say 'sorta', because they don't come out and tell you what they were trying to do. You actually kinda have to figure it out for yourself in order to understand why some of those scenes were filmed like this. And I really like that this movie doesn't really hold your hand, because it's smart enough to where you can draw your own conclusions. For example, after watching this movie, what I got out of it was that it's a film about appreciating life and about how you want to live it. There is no right or wrong way on how to live that life, because that's an answer only you can discover for yourself. Now I understand that might sound rather philosophical, and that's rare coming from me, but that is what I got after I finished watching it. There might be different ways on how you could interpret this movie and the way it treats it's message on how to live life. But that is just the way I felt about it after watching it.
There are a couple of minor issues that I had with the movie. The first one has to with character names. Now, what do I mean by this? Well, even though our main angel character is named Damiel, I don't think he EVER gets called by that name in this movie. There was one time where Cassiel gets name-dropped, but that was rather late in the film that it just goes by really quickly. The only names that I do know of are Marion and Peter Falk. Marion is the trapeze artist that I mentioned early on that Damiel falls in love with. Her name gets dropped quite a few times in this movie, so I knew who she was rather easily. As with Peter Falk, well, he essentially plays himself in the movie. And throughout it, he's trying to film a movie in Berlin. So it was rather easy to guess who he plays as the moment he enters the film. But Damiel, again, as far I know, never gets called by his name for the entire movie. MAYBE he might've gotten name-dropped once that I missed it somewhere, but if it did, then it must've gone by really quickly. The only time that I actually found out his name was when the credits started to pop up, and that's when I figured out who Bruno Ganz's character name was. So that was something that did kinda bother me a bit. Another thing that kinda made me raise an eyebrow was something that nobody is going to notice, except for me. Because I'm kinda trained on how to catch smaller details. Now, seeing as how we're working with a movie involving angels, you would assume that they're not suppose to have any physical altercation with people and things. Now with people, they kinda work around that by having the physical people feel like they're being touched, but not really, and it does make some sort of sense. But with items, I'm not totally sure. You see, on a couple of occasions, you'll see Damiel pick up items that shouldn't be picked up, being that angels are technically ghosts and all. One item he picks up is a pen from a library. The pen is still there, but he's able to pick it up with no problems. Another item he picks up is either a pebble or a stone from Marion's trailer. I don't know WHY he picks it up, he just sorta does. Now I guess, MAYBE, it's some sort of astral thing where you can pick up an astral version of an item in your hands without actually having to lift it up physically. I don't know, but then again, I'm not a spiritual person, so maybe I'm just putting way too much thought into this than I should.
But aside from that, the writing here is absolutely amazing. Our characters are deep and very fleshed out. And tied into an amazing story like this, it makes the writing shine even more beautifully than it already did. And that is awesome to see. Now, to add on to an amazing story, we also have fantastic acting. Every actor turns in an awesome showing. Everybody here sounds natural, and I feel like these characters have known each other for many, many years. That is an amazing thing to see, because I would usually be able to pick at least one actor here or there that may have phoned it in. But not here. EVERYBODY turns in an awesome showing. Now admittedly, there is a mixture of actors who either speak German or English. The only actors who speak English in this movie are Peter Falk and the people that are filming the movie that he's working on. Most of everyone else speaks German, which makes sense seeing as how this movie was filmed in Berlin and all. Now while I'm not an expert on German acting, I can say that it's still really good. And Bruno Ganz turns in an awesome showing, much like I expected from him after seeing his amazing performance in "Downfall". So yeah, the acting is great from everyone in this movie, and that is awesome to see.
Special effects are pretty good. The most noticeable digital effects are when you get to see the angel wings that form on the back of Damiel at the beginning of the movie. And you do get to see them a few more times in the movie as sort of a scene transition. There is one bit of blood in this movie, which doesn't happen until about pretty late in the film, and it's a very minor effect, too. And while I can't comment much about it, seeing as how it would tie into spoilers, I will say that it was pretty good for the moment that it appeared. Our costuming here is done really well. Most of that involved the circus performers as they are performing their routines in front of small crowds. So overall, the special effects are pretty good in this movie.
Camerawork here is really good. And thankfully, for the first time in 3 movies, I didn't notice any issues involving editing. And thank god I didn't have to bring it up again here. Lighting here is mostly well lit. But, then again, a majority of this movie was filmed in black and white. And most of that looked really good. One bit of it that I really liked was during the last ten minutes of the movie where Cassiel is standing while laying his back on the wall, and you get to see his shadow pop up behind, I think, a German rock group that is performing their song. And I understand that it's probably just typical lighting that no one would mention, but it was something that I thought looked rather cool, so you just have to take it for what it's worth. Music, for the most part, is great. Our score here is fantastic. It really sets up the atmosphere for this movie, and it does it so incredibly well. There is music playing during scenes involving the circus, but nothing about that is ultra memorable. There's also that German rock group that I mentioned a moment ago, and of the three songs that they play, the first one sounded kinda like shit. Now I haven't listened to a whole lot of German rock music, but that first song definitely sounded like shit to me. The other two songs are OK, but they weren't anything amazing. So overall, the music in this movie is really good, save for maybe a song here or there from this German rock group that sounded kinda shitty. At least, to me, it did. Oh, and a bit of a pro-tip for anyone who's looking to get this movie on DVD, make sure you turn on the subtitles first before watching the film. Because I made the mistake of just letting the movie play without turning them on. It was about 2 or 3 minutes into the movie and no subtitles were popping up. So I had to go back and turn on the English subtitles, and thus I was able to understand what the actors were trying to say. It's a minor thing, but it did sorta bug me a bit because I wasn't expecting it coming from this movie. Still though, I would recommend turning on the subtitles, unless you're someone who has mastered the German language.
Ultimately, guys, when all is said and done, am I able to recommend "Wings of Desire"? You bet your ass I can recommend it. This movie is absolutely amazing! I loved just about everything in this movie. Now again, the slow buildup might be seen as a huge turn-off for some people. And if that is the case, you're probably not gonna want to watch this movie. But for everyone else, I whole heartily recommend this movie. I'm also gonna recommend it to anyone who has recently lost a loved one. I know that sounds kinda morbid, but let me try to explain. If you're someone that is religious, and you believe that angels exist, then this movie is an instant recommendation. Because they could be watching over you and providing you with the comfort that you might need to move on with life, and how you want to continue living it. And this movie could provide you with that kind of condolence. Now, if you're someone who's not religious and don't believe in any of that, then obviously, this kind of recommendation is not going to apply to you. But overall, I can definitely recommend this movie. And if you can find it anywhere, pick it up, as long as it's a reasonable price to you. For me, it was well worth the $10 I spent to get it, and I am honored to have this movie in my DVD collection. It is just that awesome. Now...I'm gonna find something else to watch to kinda keep this spiritual theme going. I'm gonna go watch my copy of "A Letter To Momo". Why? Well, because it does involve yokai, and being that they're spirits, I figured why not? So I'm gonna go do that next, and this movie is going to have a very prominent spot on my DVD shelf.
Anyway, guys, with that, we come to the close of another Reaction & Review. Until next time, ladies and gentlemen, take care, and I will see you all later. Peace.
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