BEFORE: This is the film that was later remade as "City of Angels" - see, I told you I'd get there - and with a largely German cast, there really was no other place for me to put it, except between two other Peter Falk films. I had it next to "City of Angels" on my watchlist for a while, since I probably could have justified watching them back-to-back, but then forces dragged the two films apart.
This is another film that's on the list of "1,001 Movies to See Before You Die", and of course, "City of Angels" is not. Which means that as my luck goes, the one not on the list is watchable, and this one probably isn't. Whoever made that list had a definite inclination toward foreign films and against most Hollywood blockbusters.
THE PLOT: An angel tires of overseeing human activity and wishes to become human when he falls in love with a mortal.
AFTER: I'm faced with many of the same narrative problems as I had with "City of Angels" - mostly that the idea of angels all around us, watching us, comforting us, is just creepy as hell. (Maybe that's not a good phrase - does "creepy as heaven" work?) And the fact that these are German angels, well, that's even creepier. Given how kinky some Germans are, these angels probably just want to watch people go to the bathroom.
There's a definite difference in tone between the German and U.S. versions, too - and it sort of supports the stereotype of German people as pessimists or perhaps fatalists. You can really see where German philosophers like Friedrich Nietzsche came from. When the angels listen in on the thoughts of Americans, they hear things like "Oh, I have to remember to call the plumber..." or "I hope my dog doesn't get too lonely while I'm at work..." but when they listen to the thoughts of Germans, they get things like "I am an old man with a broken voice..." or "I am cast adrift on a sea of sadness..." Geez, German people, lighten up already!
Peter Falk serves the function (sort of) that Dennis Franz took in "City of Angels", although there are differences in their stories, to be sure. The set-up here is that Falk (playing himself, or a version of himself) comes to Germany to appear in a film set in the closing days of World War II. The plot of that film-within-a-film isn't really important, because it's just there to place Falk in contact with the German angel who longs to be human, so he can advise him.
Instead of a heart doctor, the German angel falls in love with a circus performer, a trapeze artist - though in a small, one-ring circus you can't really have a full trapeze act, so instead her act is more like those people who hang from silks and ropes - I guess that makes her an aerialist. But nothing's sadder than the circus, especially one that's closing down for the season, and our aerialist is focused on the fact that she's going to be a waitress again for a few months. Ugh, more depressing news.
You see, I know the German people. I was raised by first and second-generation Germans, and therefore I'm not surprised by my own defeatist attitude and negatively. It's not my fault, it's theirs. Or rather, it's Hitler's fault. Or perhaps the Kaiser's fault. How else did we end up with a country full of people who can party all September and Oktober long, but are a bunch of sad sacks the other 10 months? It's a beautiful country, with long winding rivers and glorious castles, and the food is (in my opinion) just the best you'll find anywhere - yet there are so many self-hating people!
Most of this film is in black and white, but there are some brief moments that are in color - again, this goes to show the German attitude and philosophy. Most of life will be drab and colorless, except for brief moments of happiness or memory, ones that are all too short. Don't get used to color, or fun of any kind, because it's transitory and can disappear at any moment.
While "City of Angels" seemed largely concerned with death and the afterlife, "Wings of Desire" seems to be more about getting through life itself, without falling into despair. Which again, is a very easy thing to do, especially if you're German.
Also starring Bruno Ganz, Solveig Dommartin, Otto Sander, Curt Bois, Lajos Kovacs, with a performance by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds.
RATING: 3 out of 10 pencil drawings
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