Bruno Ganz, perhaps the only actor to have played both an angel and Adolph Hitler, died last week at 77. We screened his collaboration with Wim Wenders, in memoriam.
WINGS OF DESIRE (1987) (A) - Wim Wenders at the height of his powers, co-writing a rambling, fascinating treatise on humanity and mortality, told through the eyes of guardian angels who watch us and know all but are unable to feel.
I don't remember my specific reactions when I first watched this movie 30 years ago. But this time I was knocked out by the philosophical noodlings authored by Wenders and Peter Handke. There is a soulfulness on display, much deeper than the general ideas of what it means to be human -- to feel, to taste, to love, to hurt. There is also a playfulness to the idea that some humans can either see the angels or sense their presence. (Peter Falk, as himself, is a delight in this mode.) I also was reminded of the Wenders' heavy emphasis on the postwar devastation of Berlin, which, at the time, had been only 40 years in the rearview mirror. The power of evil is palpable throughout in the shadow of the Berlin Wall.
Bruno Ganz carries the film as Damiel, the angel who falls for an elegant trapeze artist and longs to return to human form in order to interact with her. Is there a male-fantasy element to that? Possibly. But the sense of innocence and wonder is captivating. Ganz's sad-eyed but mischievous Damiel plays well against his hangdog counterpart, Cassiel (Otto Sander). Solveig Dommartin glides through her scenes as Marion, the beauty who defies gravity (and, literally at one point, dresses in angel wings).
And Wenders' camera, too, seems to float all over Berlin, switching from gritty black-and-white (when shooting from the angels' perspective) to lurid color (human perspective), an unsubtle reminder of life's rich pageant.
BONUS TRACK
Damiel with a motorcycle crash victim:
A discussion of film, music, culture and divine intervention from the Pop Zeus.
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