Film Fan: Wings of Desire (4 Stars)

Sunday 17 February 2019

Wings of Desire (4 Stars)

It was with great sadness that I heard about Bruno Ganz passing away yesterday. It was so unexpected. It was a shock when it popped up as breaking news on my phone. He's someone that I thought would live forever.

It's only been a few months since I saw him playing Virgil in "The House that Jack built" and Sigmund Freud in "Der Trafikant" ("The Tobacconist"). Many actors retire from acting in their final years, but Bruno continued making films until the very end. I took it for granted that I'd see him in one or two new films every year. As I said, I thought he would live forever.

The original German title of "Wings of Desire" is "Der Himmel über Berlin", engl. "The Sky over Berlin". I dislike the English title. It distracts from some of the messages of the film. It's more than a love story, it's also a tale about the divided city. Despite a wall dividing East and West the angels see it as a single city. They walk through the Wall as if it weren't there.

Bruno Ganz plays an angel who keeps watch over Berlin. He isn't named in the film itself, but in the credits he's listed as Damiel. He walks around the city, on both sides of the Wall, listening to people. He listens to their words and he listens to their thoughts. Sometimes he comforts a person by putting a hand on his shoulder. He makes notes on what he sees in a notebook, and he shares his experiences with his fellow angel Cassiel. They've both been in Berlin for millions of years, long before it was a city. They saw the first fish, the first land animals and the first men. At least, they saw the first men in the area that later became Berlin. I don't know how far Berlin is from the Garden of Eden.

Interestingly, there's no mention of God. The angels report to one another, not to a superior being. They don't receive orders what they have to do. They do what they do because it's all they've ever done.

There's an immortal in the city, not named in the film itself, but listed in the credits as Homer. He refers to himself as mankind's story teller. He regrets that so many people can read nowadays, because it leads to alienation. In former years he spoke to the people sitting in a circle round him. Today everyone sits alone with Homer's words, reading them for himself. The angels, especially Cassiel, pay great attention to his thoughts.

Damiel feels attracted to a circus trapeze artist called Marion, played by the French actress Solveig Dommartin in her first film. Her career is at an end because her circus will close after the evening performance. That makes her sad, but she's even sadder because she's always been alone. She's had people around her, but she couldn't experience oneness. Even when she thought she was in love she felt like she could just as well be with any man she saw on the street. Damiel would like to be with her, but it's not possible.

Or is it?

Peter Falk arrives in Berlin to make a film about an American detective solving a murder case in 1945 Berlin. Nobody else, apart from children, can see the angels, but Peter can feel that Damiel is watching him. He reveals that he used to be an angel, and any angel can become a man.

This is a brilliant film, slow-moving and surreal. It's not boring for a moment. A lot is suggested but not explained. The viewer is left to guess what is happening.