The simple idea of mixing poetry, existentialism and romance with unearthly beings it has proved as success. It is filmed in black and white by Wim Wenders which is one of my favorite directors.We can see the angels watching us from above...how they act and what they say, it makes us wonder about the meaning of our lives. Sometimes we ask for others opinion, but what better point of view than an angel 's. From above everything loses meaning, everything is diminished.The love story is pure and beauty, and it does not look like anything we are used to.9/10

An angel (Bruno Ganz) gazes along the streets and city of Berlin, ruminating, being romantic for... something, anything, or for an actual person. And meanwhile, a famous actor (Peter Falk) ruminates about the ways of the world, of acting, of cinema (if not directly then in the subtext), and we follow him for a bit. Whether there will be direct interaction, who knows. But the angel makes a decision, and falls from the sky to try and become something else. Ultimately, the Angel is all about romance - whether he finds it directly is another question.Such is the thrust of Wim Wenders Wings of Desire, a film that many have touted as one of the greats of the 1980s. I think this is the kind of movie you either go for, or you don't. I mostly went for it, and the poet in me liked a lot of the words that came out in the voice-overs. It's a very humanistic movie and if nothing else it can be praised by that... actually, it's the visual scope that dominates and triumphs (I'd like to take this DP out for a beer).If only Wenders could back off just a little from his super-mega-sumptuous-Berlin-poetry and get back to the story a little more, it would really be something fully magical (rather, a marriage of the two). I have to recommend it strongly for its visual and usually aural beauty, and Ganz's touching performance too. But I didn't find it to be quite the masterpiece most do. I apologize on behalf of my brain not taking in all of the supposed awe-inspiring words spoken by people (almost everyone has the poetry of a master, and many of them just sound like they're reading as opposed to naturally speaking), but it's just how I took it in.Oh, and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds makes a prominent appearance in the third act. Reason enough to see it alone, and it makes the final act have a stronger impact than you might expect - there's poetry AND rock and roll combined!

I did not really like this movie. Maybe it's just not my kind of movie. I found it really slow. The first part was interesting but about halfway through it got kind of boring. The cinematography is really beautiful though. The movie taking place before the Berlin wall fell is a very interesting part looking back on it now.The listening to people's thoughts was great at first but it went on too long. The love story really did hold my interest.I think had it been shortened a bit it would have been much better. I did watch the whole thing as I don't think it's fair to review a movie without sitting through the whole thing but towards the end my mind was really wandering.

Nearly every film I've rated as a masterpiece won its place in my heart for capturing Buddha's lesson- life is suffering, and, as Ofelia's mother put it in Pan's Labyrinth, the world is a cruel place. Wings of Desire is likely the greatest film that comes at it from an opposite angle, and is amazing in a whole new way. Yes, there are depressed characters, a prostitute, a suicide. This isn't a naive film. But the overall message overcomes it all- we can focus on the positive.As a story about an angel, Damiel, who longs to be human, Wings of Desire can open a viewer's eyes as to how the physical world is not a bad place to be. We see what the angels lack that we have- colour, touch, taste, freedom. We learn we can be amazed by these things, and should be. There is something mystical to the woman who folds up her umbrella and lets herself get soaked, to the child who describes how a fern grew from dirt to an astonished teacher, to the boy who listens to The Odyssey and stops blinking. The divine and the amazing are all around us, for anyone who knows where to look.Peter Falk, who plays himself as a former angel, lays it out in his companero speech, in my opinion one of the greatest scenes in the history of cinema. It's wonderful to be here, he says, to have coffee, to rub your hands together, to draw. He offers his hand as a gesture of friendship- Damiel chooses to take it, indicating he has overcome his last bits of reluctance to "take the plunge." His fellow-angel, Cassiel, who earlier couldn't help himself from smiling at the thought of mortality, does not take Falk's hand.The feel of the film, as a whole, has an otherworldly, poetic tone, thanks to screenwriters Wim Wenders and Peter Handke, the latter whom contributed Song of Childhood, which runs through the film and helps tie it together. This contributes to the stunning, awe-inspiring feel of the film, only enhanced by the Criterion Blu-ray. It's particularly the black and white scenes that benefit from the exceptional detail, sharpness and texture. Even the circus and the music of Nick Cave take on divine meaning in this film.The film ends with a "To be continued..." which will nag everyone to see the sequel, Faraway, So Close! (1993). It disappointingly loses the whole tone and message of the first film; the message of Faraway, So Close! appears to be "Oops, turns out the world sucks after all. Stay away, angels." I don't blame The Criterion Collection for not releasing the two films as a double feature. Wings of Desire is only one film, unlike any other, and truly a stunning experience.