The Heavens Over Berlin, or Wings of Desire
Image by Gabriela Munoz.
"...a 1987 Franco-German romanticfantasy film directed by Wim Wenders. The film is about invisible, immortal angels who populate Berlin and listen to the thoughts of the human inhabitants and comfort those who are in distress. Even though the city is densely populated, many of the people are isolated and estranged from their loved ones. One of the angels, played by Bruno Ganz, falls in love with a beautiful, lonely trapeze artist. The angel chooses to become human so that he can experience the human sensory pleasures, ranging from enjoying food to touching a loved one, and so that he can experience human love with the trapeze artist. The film is shot in both a rich, sepia-toned black-and-white and color, with the former being used to represent the world as experienced by the angels." Excerpted from here.
When I saw Wings of Desire for the first time, I was sitting in a crushed velvet seat on the balcony of an old auditorium-style classroom in the oldest and most beautiful building on campus. It was an Honors Civilization class. (Note, I was not an Honors student.) We met two times a week with a tall, grey haired professor who waxed poetic about Voltaire and epics, anything and everything German, ranted about liberal oppression at BYU in the 60s and 70s, and tittered side comments about his petite Swedish wife's heart-shaped face—she attended most of his lectures and sat quietly in the top left of the balcony. (Her face was unbelievably heart-shaped, accentuated by her white chin length bob, and she literally had no wrinkles.) In addition to this professor's mind-bending lectures, every Friday afternoon we were required to attend a screening of a film relating to our coursework. Halfway through the semester, we watched The Heavens Over Berlin, or Wings of Desire. I distinctly remember feeling like my mind was physically expanding during the movie and that I had a renewed perspective and excitement for the future. I had seen many foreign films in my life—my parents enjoyed only PBS or foreign films for the most part—but I had never felt engrossed and touched by any film—let alone a black and white one. It's so simple to say, but that film is beautiful.
What's the best movie you've seen recently? Do you speak German? Because if you do, I want to watch this film with you and hear the subtleties that are inevitably lost in the subtitles.
P.S. — Watch more movies. It's wintertime. I vented my woe-is-me winter blues and should have added "lots of tv and movies while working" as a most excellent antidote to bitter cold.
