Weekend film: Winds of Desire / Der Himmel über Berlin

[alexandral]

It happened once... It happened once, and so it will be forever.

This is a wonderful film. It is a poem of a kind – I wish I could understand German so that I can appreciate it fully. I also wonder if monologues and dialogues had some rhyme in German, it just felt this way. This film isn’t easy to watch (for me) and it is very different from anything else I have seen. But you know, when sometimes you come across something what you have never seen or heard before, something very unique and at the same time so familiar to you?

The story is familiar from the later re-make of this film, “City of angels”: an angel longs for human life with it’s shortness and it’s beauty. I personally liked “City of Angels”, but for me the original “Wings of Desire” is much more then just the beautiful love story “City of Angels” is. “Wings of Desire” makes me want to go and do many, many things : tell people I love them, touch old trees, swim on the early morning in the cold, cold water, eat chocolate éclairs, go in the sledge from the top of the snowy hill all the way down. LIFE IS WONDERFUL!! But this film is not just about it neither. There is a sad and haunting undertone in the film – the history of Berlin, the past destruction of 1940’s and Berlin wall.



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Damien by Bruno Ganz: Not your average angel, but he has such an interesting face:

Marion by Solveig Dommartin: She is so beautiful (unusual style) and very sweet:

Comments

[queenofthorns.livejournal.com]

I like this movie a lot too! A lot of it takes place in the Stabi (the "Staatsbibliothek") in Berlin, and when I first started doing some reading in there, I kept looking around to see if I saw the angel :P

Bruno Ganz is a great actor (he's actually Swiss, btw). Do you know that he played Hitler in the brilliant film (IMO) called "Der Untergang" (or "Downfall" in English)? It's quite the career-spanning move from angel to very evil man, no?

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

A lot of it takes place in the Stabi (the "Staatsbibliothek") in Berlin, and when I first started doing some reading in there, I kept looking around to see if I saw the angel :P

Did you see one? ;)

"Downfall" is one of the movies i want to see for a long time, and I would have never been able to tell that Bruno Ganz is playing Hitler there (i have seen some adverts for this movie, it was in general release here). I must, must watch it! And he was such a kind-hearted angel too ;)

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

I have wanted to see this film for years and years now - I've always heard it was amazing. Thank you for sharing your thoughts on it - and I love how it inspired you. :) That's the best feeling, when art can evoke strong emotions in you, especially when they are positive feelings.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I kept wanting to see this film for a long time too, it was for about a year at the top of my Blockbuster list, and it has arrived recently.

Have you seen "City of Angels"?

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

Yes, I saw City of Angels - I liked it, but didn't love it; I felt like there was something extra or special that was missing (however it has a fantastic soundtrack, if for nothing else than the Peter Gabriel track "I Grieve"). I've always been told that Wings of Desire was much better.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Sorry for deleting.. Spelling!

I agree with you.. I liked "City of Angels", but not to the point "i want to watch it 10 times". As you say, some music tracks were absolutely beautiful, i can add to the one you have mentioned song "In the arms of an angel" which really made me fell it.. The main thing i don't like, of course, is the ending ;)

[winterspel.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the ending of City of Angels either! That's exactly what bugged me...

That song by Sarah McLachlan "Angel" (the one you referred to) is one of my favorite SM songs, and I loved it on that soundtrack. Unfortunately it got played to death on U.S. tv shows. I still love it, but I don't listen to it much anymore because it was used too much. Oh well. ;)

[koalathebear.livejournal.com]

You might enjoy this version (although perhaps you already have it). It's Angel (http://s27.yousendit.com/d.aspx?id=14ZB2I58GOBCS3RXVGEWWW0ZR4) as covered by Chinese singer A Sun. She sings it in English with a slight accent but it's still lovely....

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Thank you! This song is lovely, though i couldn't make it to be downloaded in full..( it must be just me).

** hugs**

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

I lose all film cred because I don't like this film (gasp! I kind of enjoyed the remake, though that could be because U2 helps out the soundtrack). Even knowing the German doesn't make it less tedious for me (or maybe it was watching it in one too many college courses). I prefer my German films to be a little crazier and occasionally violent-while-slow, like Aguirre: der Zorn Gottes/Aguirre, the Wrath of God. Heh.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

You don't HAVE TO, you know ;) I thought this film isn’t easy to watch ;) , but I think i am going to keep thionking about it for a long, long time!

Even knowing the German doesn't make it less tedious for me This is wonderful (i mean knowing German part)! READING BOOKS IN GERMAN!

Aguirre: der Zorn Gottes/Aguirre, the Wrath of God. I checked it up and added to my Blockbuster list, thank you!

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Heeee. Glad to be of service--hope you enjoy the film!

As for reading in German, I can but it is soooo slooooow for me, which makes me impatient. I try to keep my hand in by reading either poetry, or books translated into German, like Anne of Green Gables and the Guy Gavriel Kay books. Heee.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Aguirre is one of my very favorite movies ever! That final scene of Aguirre on the raft with the monkeys is indelibly imprinted on my brain.

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Yes! At first I thought it was just insane, but it stuck with me and the next time I saw it I really dug it...

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

It is insane, really. Or he was, anyway. (And played by a crazy man, too.) But there's something so compelling about the story and the visuals that I bought in from the first.

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Yay! INSANE film! I looove insane films .. !

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Also--cool icon! Is that your tattoo?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

Thank you. And yes. It's the Nazca monkey, and I flew over it when I was in Peru in 2002. I have a thing for monkeys anyway, but this one really captivated me. I bought jewelry and a painting, but finally I realized I needed to make it a part of me.

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

That is AWESOME.
I'm slightly obsessed with tattoos. I keep saying that I want one, but never actually follow through... and I hear they're addictive and I haven't quite figured out what image I really want.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I have two. My first is Chinese characters. I'd wanted a tattoo for a long time and finally got that one after I had a lumpectomy. It's above my scar, and I think of it as my talisman. They are kind of addictive, though, and I kept wanting another one that people could actually see, so ten years later I got my monkey just above my left anklebone. I figure if I can limit myself to one every ten years (actually, I think it was nine and a bit *g*), that's not too bad.

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Yeah--I first got the desire for a tattoo after a small bout with skin cancer left me with a scar, and I wanted to choose a mark for my body. But then I want something that I can both see and that I can cover up for "business," and that's part of the slacking. :D
Did the anklebone one hurt? I hear mixed reviews about the pain factor, but I do have a high tolerance. And I toyed with getting a horseshoe on my ankle.

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

The ankle hurt more than the breast, but neither hurt a whole lot. And I think one reason it hurt more is simply because it was bigger (though still not big) and needed to be filled in, while the Chinese characters are just lines. I think if I'd gotten it right on the bone it would have been a lot more painful. I'm really glad I did it, though, if that helps you make up your mind.

[lage-nom-ai.livejournal.com]

Awesome! Thanks for answering all of my questions. :)

(And sorry for hijacking, alexandral!)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Hee ! Thank you for interesting discussion! I dont' have tatoo , but i was ALWAYS wondering how much it hurts ;)

[ginger001]

Thank you for posting about this movie!!! I have wanted to see it since I watched City of Angels, which I didn't like at all!

I had always heard that this original version was the best and for what you say they were right. I really want to see the original so I can erase the feelings City of Angels left in me. It's one of those movies that I can't just watch again. I know a lot of people love it but I just can't, and I can't actually explain why.

It's just fantastic when a movie makes you feel something... makes you feel alive at the same time that makes you realizes about everything you have around you... That is what Art is about, I think.

[ginger001]

I checked some webs and in fact the one I want to see the most from Wim Wenders' movies is Faraway, so close! and later on this one you watched!! ;)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

I didn't like the ending in "City of Angels" at all. It is one of the movies which i like, but don't agree to the ending and pretend it didn't happen..

Thank you for mentioning "Faraway, so close", i havn't heard about it before, i think i want to watch it too.. ;)

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

And this movie has Nick Cave, too. :-)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

Is Nick Cave good thing or bad?

[nutmeg3.livejournal.com]

I love Nick. He's one of my musical gods and another one of those questing, multi-talented minds, like Viggo. (That's him in my icon, btw.)

[alexandral.livejournal.com]

How could i not recognize that wonderful goose-bumps inducing singer!!! I haven't heard of him before (i am very limited in music, sorry) but i really liked his song in the film "From Her to Eternity" , it was very haunting(??).

This icon is great!!