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Wings of Desire (1987, W.Germ./Fr.)
(aka Der Himmel über Berlin)
In director and co-writer Wim Wenders' visually-affecting,
moody and soaring film (remade as City of Angels (1998) starring
Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan):
- the plot regarding two earthbound, heavy flannel
coat-wearing angels - sad-faced Damiel and Cassiel (Bruno Ganz
and Otto Sander) who watched over Berlin (both modern-day and war-time)
- with the accompanying image (drained of color because of their
isolation from earthly life) of Damiel surveying Berlin from the
wings of the Victory statue atop its column in the Konigsplatz
- the early scene of the two angels conversing in an
open automobile about what it would be like to be human (to crave
weight and pain)
- the many scenes of the angels who observed and listened
in without judgment to the thoughts of commuting subway passengers
and library patrons of differing nationalities - and to other's random
thoughts and voices
- the two scenes of the angel accompanying a motorcycle
accident victim and a suicidal man
- also the transcendent scene of Damiel lovingly observing
trapeze artist Marion (Solveig Dommartin) in her trailer
- the way in which American movie star (Peter Falk)
tempted Damiel with tactile and sensory sensations (drawing, coffee,
cigarettes, the feel of cold on one's hands, etc.)
- the moment that Cassiel saw that Damiel (after declaring
his intention to join the earthly world) had left his footsteps in
the sand on the East German side of the wall
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