Wings of Desire

Orion Classics | Release Date: May 6, 1988

7.8	USER SCORE Generally favorable reviews based on 90 Ratings

USER RATING DISTRIBUTION

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Review this movie

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Please sign in or create an account before writing a review.

Check box if your review contains spoilers

0 characters (5000 max)

User Reviews

User score By date Most helpful

mattdinovoOct 22, 2018

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Matthew DiNovo
The movie, Wings of Desire, is a 1987 classic fantasy romance German film from Wim Wenders. This movie is not anywhere close to a decent film for multiple reasons. Wings of Desire is about angels, and who would have portrayed angels as boring, depressed men in everyday clothes other than the director Wim Wenders. Other famous movies of his include Pope Francis a Man of His Word, Pina, The Salt of the Earth, and Until the End of the World, which also can’t be much better basing my judgement off Wings of Desire. The slow, confusing, and what seems to be missing plot mixes well with the black and white cinematography and three languages spoken in the movie to create a two-hour disaster. If there was one movie to receive a negative rating, it would be Wings of Desire.
Initially, one would think of an angel as someone who is happy, heavenly, and actively helps people. This, unfortunately, is not the case in Wings of Desire. The two main characters, Damiel and Cassiel, are both angels who aimlessly roam about Berlin in search of pretty much nothing. It appears as if they have no purpose for being where they are, and both seem to hate being angels as well. It becomes so awful that Damiel eventually wants to become a human himself.
Damiel and Cassiel do not have any other features humans do such as the senses of touch, smell, taste, the desire for love and lust. This explains why a good portion of the movie is in black and white to show the plainness of these angels. Damiel struggles with this the most because he begins to envy Marion, who can experience everything he cannot. Marion ends up being the reason Damiel wants to become mortal. As previously stated, both Damiel and Cassiel cannot be seen by people, except children. This fact is next to useless because the children in Wings of Desire need no intervention from these ‘divine’ creatures. Angels are supposed to help people, right? Not the case in this movie. There is a scene in which a man is contemplating suicide by jumping off a skyscraper and Cassiel is next to the man listening to his thoughts. Instead of doing the angelic act and saving the man from killing himself, Cassiel just passively stands by and makes no real attempt to stop the man. Allowing someone to commit suicide does not sound godlike. Another agonizing aspect of Wings of Desire is the painfully long scenes that serve no purpose other than to make the movie longer, which is not a good thing. The band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is also featured in the movie, but they have no impact at all. There are two scenes where they fully play the songs The Carny and From Her to Eternity, which is coupled with the corny dancing of Solveig Dommartin and the other extras to yield one of the most cringy movie scenes ever seen. Wim Wenders made the poor decision to make these scenes way too long does not help the already boring film. Marion (Solveig Dommartin) also has a way-too-long trapeze act scene during her circus days. The most disappointing aspect of these scenes is that they have no purpose. If they were cut out, the movie would be the same, and equally as bad. Marion also has a seven-minute monologue in a bar with Damiel. This scene has some significance because it depicts Marion and Damiel finally being together, but once again it is agonizing to watch. Both angels appear to have the ability to read people thoughts. Of course, Wim Wenders completely fails at making this interesting because of even more long, useless scenes. Damiel and Cassiel are seen walking down streets or in a library reading the random thoughts of people. These merely add to the disappointment Wings of Desire gives its audience. The biggest part of Wings of Desire, and quite possibly the worst, is the ‘big surprise’ ending. This section of the review does contain a spoiler, but rest assured there is nothing to be upset about. Throughout the movie Damiel has an internal conflict because he is an angel, but somehow falls in love with a human woman Marion. This love he has for her drives him to enter the river and transform into a mortal. Damiel’s change from angel to mortal for a girl he has never met makes no sense, and the way he and Marion meet is even more strange. Marion finds herself sitting alone in a bar and guess who she is sitting next to. Yes, you are right, its Damiel. How did this happen? No one will ever understand the basic, one dimensional way that Damiel and Marion meet, and somehow Marion ends up giving a speech to Damiel. This leads to them kissing in the bar and the movie ends. The ending is the dagger this film needed to make it one of the worst movies ever made. There is no resolution to Damiel’s minor internal conflict, and there surely is no explanation for anything else in the movie either.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

msmith208Oct 24, 2018

"Wings of Desire" is a black and white film that follows two immortal angels, Damiel and Cassiel. Through their journey through the city of Berlin, they touch the lives of many with their presence. Though many are unable to see them, children"Wings of Desire" is a black and white film that follows two immortal angels, Damiel and Cassiel. Through their journey through the city of Berlin, they touch the lives of many with their presence. Though many are unable to see them, children can. With just a touch of these angels hands, they are able to heal the thoughts of people (the man who commits suicide and help comfort the woman in labor). Although this movie may sound interesting, it is not. The movie becomes dull in some parts. For example when the conversation at the bar between Damiel and Marion runs on for so long or when we are stuck watching Marion's trapeze routine for what seems like an eternity. These too long of scenes it what ruined the movie for me. Overall I would not recommend this movie if you enjoy exciting, action-packed, funny movies because you won't get that out of this one.… Expand

0 of 2 users found this helpful02

All this user's reviews

terri-draperOct 26, 2018

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wings of Desire, directed by Wim Wenders, is a great choice of movie if you are looking for the cinematic version of a sleeping aid. Either the medication or the movie will do a decent job of knocking you out within a half hour. I’m not sure black and white vision of the angels is the problem or the lack of action. It is most likely the lack of coherent plot and uncomfortable dialogue. The movie begins with children watching an angel on top of a building. One is on the back of its mother’s bicycle and the other is walking across the street. There is no issue with this scene despite the fact that the children are never seen again and the angel standing on the edge of the building more resembles a gargoyle than a heavenly being. The camera panning all over the city and taking in the inner monologues of the depressed people in the apartment and on the subway will make you dizzy. The whole movie is a dizzy mess. The scenes seem randomly spliced together and incohesive. One minute, you are listening to a man, whose name we don’t even learn until the credits, talk about his experience as a holocaust survivor and suddenly you are watching a circus. The worst part is probably the inner monologues. There isn’t an ounce of positivity which seems entirely unrealistic. The only inner monologue that makes any sense and creates any sort of sympathy is the suicide case. The spoken and unspoken monologues of the trapeze artist, Marion (Solveig Dommartin), are the most overrated-under developed of them all. They are long-winded and incredibly drawn out and unless you are really paying attention to what she is saying, you’ll miss it. It sounds more like what a teenage girl would write in her diary than spoken in a major motion picture. The only coherent thought that comes across is the feeling of terror she has before doing her final trapeze act. Speaking of that trapeze act, it was a small moment of my life I’ll never get back. The act becomes tedious as she carefully swings back and forth above the ring while striking poses showcasing her strength and flexibility. It’s not that the act is bad, just long too long. You can only see a woman do so much swinging before you lose interest. The scene at the end of the movie where Damiel (Bruno Ganz) hands her a glass and she takes a sip is so incredibly unrealistic that you’ll want to end the movie early. Would I give this movie a “two thumbs up” like Roger Ebert? Absolutely not. Two thumbs down. My problem is not with the actors. They tried their best. My problem is in what seems like a serious lack of scene planning on the director’s part.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

NickJeakleOct 29, 2018

"Wings of Desire" has to be one of the most boring movie I ever had to sit through. The movie is very slow paced and has almost no plot. In the beginning of the film it doesn't explain anything that is happening. Throughout the film there are"Wings of Desire" has to be one of the most boring movie I ever had to sit through. The movie is very slow paced and has almost no plot. In the beginning of the film it doesn't explain anything that is happening. Throughout the film there are very small details that are easily over looked. This makes a lot of scenes later in the film very confusing. For the first half of the movie all the angels do is walk around Berlin and comfort people. It's a cool concept but terrible execution. The second half is a lot more interesting. The ending of the movie has a plot twist when the angel turns himself into a human to fall in love. The very boring plot and the decent ending is why I rated this movie a solid 3 out of 10.… Expand

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

All this user's reviews

MartinosMar 10, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The "twist" of angels being color-blind is not really as novel or deep as fans of the movie make it out to be and was even kind of predictable. The same can be said about many other aspects of the film and I found it unusually boring to watch.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

All this user's reviews