Wings of Desire, 1987

Last night as a snow storm raged outside our window we settled in to watch Wim Wenders' 1987 film, Wings of Desire. Incredibly, I managed to make it through 24 years on this Earth without having seen this beautiful piece of cinema, and I'm embarrassed to admit that I'd only seen the pseudo-remake City of Angels starring Meg Ryan and Nicolas Cage.

Wings of Desire, a far superior film, was written by Wenders and Austrian novelist Peter Handke. The movie takes place in West Berlin sometime in the late 80s during the Cold War. It's worth watching for a myriad of reasons, one being the depiction of Berlin before the fall of the wall. The plot basically revolves around two Angels who listen-in on Berliners thoughts and dreams, wishing they could be human.

One Angel falls in love with a trapeze artist named Marion, and decides to "take the plunge," become human, and live out his mortal life with her. But the love story is really far from the centerpiece. In fact, the refreshing fact of this film is its ability to waft from story to story as they correspond to different people, whether they be random people the Angels encounter, or a fallen angel (Colombo! Peter Falk!) or Nick Cave (!) performing in a club.

An incredible score by Jurgen Kneiper and the poetry of Handke (who avoids his usual misanthropy here) alongside gorgeous cinematography and the comic relief of Peter Falk results in a film that wants us to remember the delight in being human. Wenders' manages to balance the black and white film and unorthodox narration which makes the movie feel older and wiser with the desire of his characters, who want nothing more than to understand their reason for being - they are close to us, totally empathetic, and real. We don't even think twice that this a reality where Angels watch over us and listen in. It all makes perfect, beautiful sense.