Cheap Wings of Desire (DVD) (Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois) (Wim Wenders) Price

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Customer Reviews of Wings of Desire

Wings of Desire-visual,verbal masterpiece.
They took me kicking and screaming.I was board ,no plot .That was my first impression of this film.I CANT LIVE WITHOUT IT NOW.Bruno Ganz that face,you could write a map on it.Who is Homer? The library scene.NICK CAVE AND THE BAD SEEDS WOW!!!! COLUMBO. PETER FALK.This film is in my opinion a combination of EXPRESSIONISM and IMPRESSIONISM, The German and the French.The contrast of black and white/color,expresses it visually.The dialogue expresses it verbally, slow and methodicaly like an opera.I can go on and on about this film but time is short ,buy it ,because its like a book you will find something new each time you view it .It takes place in Berlin before the Eastern European revolultions of the early 90's.Berlin beautiful but dark a divided city,Solveig Dommartin is always veiwed in color,french expressionism.This film views our complex lifes in our world ,the modern world .It trys to view our lifes through these angels,sometimes answers are given sometimes just posed.Feel it ,Visualise it. TURFFLLES

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a masterpiece with very good dvd extras
The word "moving" gets overused, but it really does apply here. German filmmaker Wim Wenders had spent eight years in Hollywood and made four films when he decided to return to his homeland and make a movie there. "Wings of Desire" is the result, an inspired tale of angels watching over Berlin, and of friends Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) in particular.

The depiction of the angels, even for the secularly minded, is so comforting and hope-filled that you will look at the world in a different way. Angels stand beside us and watch over us, comfort us and testify to our actions and thoughts. They are filled with joy and kindness, and to some extent they envy us. The two friends speak with affection of humans and their experiences, while they themselves are unable to taste or feel or see color. Now Damiel has fallen in love with trapeze artist Marion (Solveig Dommartin) and he decides to take the plunge -- literally -- to descend to earth and become a human so that he can be with her and live a human life.

Ganz and Sander, as the angels, bring depth, joy and empathy to this gorgeous and unique film. Dommartin, Wenders' girlfriend at the time, is not only believable as the object of love, but she performs all the trapeze feats herself too. Peter Falk is charming as an ex-angel in Berlin for a film (though his internal monologue contains a logical impossibility -- listen to Wenders' commentary), and Curt Bois is notable as the mythic Homer. Legendary Director of Photography Henri Alekan (Beauty and the Beast) uses his grandmother's silk stocking to good effect and lights the film beautifully, while Peter Handke's script is lyrical and thoughtful. Wenders repeatedly captures incredible images and scenes -- an angel atop a column looking across the city, library patrons watched over by invisible guardians, and the memorable and touching voiceovers of everyday people as the angels hear their thoughts. Wenders' decision to use b&w for the angels' perspective is perfect, while Knieper's sublime soundtrack is evocative and splendid, memorably augmented by performances from Crime & the City Solution and Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds.

The film is undeniably European, so there are a few moments (such as the lovers' dialogue toward the end of the film) that can be uncomfortable or laughable for an American, but I've shown this film to several people who aren't usually foreign film fans and each has loved it. The idea of divine beings who regard us with affection is comforting, and Wenders and his team have brought this lovely vision to the screen in a way that will change the way you look at the world, and at film.

The DVD extras are very good. There is an excellent commentary track by director Wenders, with a few comments by Falk; 30 minutes of deleted scenes (though unfortunately only a couple of the many angel costumes Wenders says were tested); a wonderful retrospective 43-minute feature, The Angels Among Us, composed of comments and anecdotes by the director, cast and crew; an English and a German trailer; a promo; an interactive map; and two print advertisements. Subtitles are available in English, French or Spanish.

If you are new to foreign film, this is a great introduction. It's a non-American sensibility wrapped around a beautiful idea. It is Apple to Hollywood's Intel. It's also instructive to watch City of Angels, Hollywood's remake of this film, to see the differences. I enjoyed both films, though in fifty years City of Angels will be remembered for its association to Der Himmel Uber Berlin rather than vice versa.

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EXISTENTIALISM MEETS EMOTIONS IN THIS GORGEOUS ROMANCE
What an absolutely haunting delight. With its introspective pacing, which some may find slower than their cinematic taste allows, the film takes its own sweet time setting things up but it is one of the most mind-boggling romantic tropes you will see in cinema.

In the end it's not just about requited loves and hopes, it also carries a heady undercurrent of other notions: displacement and the natural yearning for emotional connections that transcends humans; the unification of a divided Germany and of a divided race; and, probably above all, about the universality of cinema and its ability to allow people to live multiple lives (from multiple cultures) at the movies.

When I first saw this, I thought the film's fatal flaw was its anti-climactic conclusion. Now I realise that it may be the best part of my favourite film of all time.

One caution to buyers about the DVD. Many bits of the film are in German, but my DVD had no subtitles. All the gorgeous imagery (in noir-ish black and white) was thus somewhat frittered away.

But it surely did make me want to see what Berlin must really be like. If you like your movies laid-back and reflective, this comes highly recommended from me.