Tropic Sprockets / Wings of Desire

By Ian Brockway

From the masterful auteur Wim Wenders (The American Friend), “Wings of Desire” (1987) is an existential fantasy in black-and-white with only splashes of color to great effect. It is engrossing and hypnotic, with poetry that gradually moves upon the eye in rhythmic impact. Sharp edged and grand, like a surrealist painting it hits the eye with charge and emotion. [Check Tropiccinema.com for showtimes and trailer.]

Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander) are two angels who float around 1980s Berlin and observe people. Both of them lament not being human and pine for physical body.

Damiel craves physical discomfort and coffee. He meets a trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin) and learns of her struggles for success. Through it all Damiel wears a patient and passive smile while Cassiel carries great sadness. 

Peter Falk stars as a version of himself. Here he is a former angel who renounced everything for experience. He is happy in spite of seeing what life has to offer.

This is a quirky but thoughtful film that has a rolling hypnotic quality. The imagery is life-size and impactful. Although the film is sophisticated, it has a daring punk rock quality. Fitting in perfectly with other films of the period like Jean-Jacques Beineix’s “Diva” (1981) and Slava Tsukerman’s “Liquid Sky” (1982).

There are passages in the film that portray great majesty, and border on the wondrous: the sight of a woman spinning in space, an angel perched high above a sign for Mercedes-Benz, or vast expenses of concrete delineating East from West Berlin. Sadness and longing weighs upon all.

A highlight of the film is the rocker Nick Cave who looks like a midnight lizard.

To be spiritual according to the narrative is to be somewhat dispassionate and unengaged. This mortal condition is a point of envy for the angels among us. 

This is a film which employs a kind of impersonal rhythm to its stream of imagery. This is to its credit. At once sweeping yet detached, “Wings of Desire” has its own unique visual language. Immersive and melancholy with equal shades of darkness and light, the film carries within its frames splinters of the supernatural. 

Write Ian at [email protected]

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