Wings of Desire

There aren’t many films like this: haunting visions that recreate before our eyes a specific historical moment that eternally haunts reality. One example would be Man of Iron, teeming with the energy of the Solidarity strikes or Woodstock, a musical postcard from the year 1969. In turn, Wenders’s tale of a divided city captures the imminent fall of the Iron Curtain. But it’s not time to celebrate yet: the troubled citizens of Berlin are flitting around the streets, exhausted, and it’s up to the angels Cassiel (Otto Sander) and Damiel (Bruno Ganz) to comfort their troubled souls. Daniel listens to the musings of Marion (a magnetic Solveig Dommartin), a lonely trapeze artist. Fascinated by her sadness, he asks himself: what is it like to feel, to be, to experience? The whimsical mood, decaying cityscape, and meditative ambiance make Wings of Desire one of Wim Wenders’s greatest works.

Patrycja Mucha

4K restoration from 2018.