From the mid 1960’s to the mid 1980’s, there was a movement in German filmmaking, called the New German Cinema, in which directors made esoteric, low-budget, avant garde art house movies. Not only did this allow them enough notoriety to get larger budget films backed by companies in the US, but it also created a renaissance in cinema and filmmaking in German. Through their success, other German directors began to create stories that were tied to the German national identity and history, as well as the realistic struggles of modern citizens and civilizations. Wim Wenders, the director of Wings of Desire, was a New German Cinema director, and his film Wings of Desire is not only one of his most famous pictures, but it also stands as a perfect example of this movement.
Wenders was an artist and a photographer before, and after, he became a director, and his artistic sensibilities are clearly displayed in the visually stunning film. He utilized Henri Alekan, the legendary cinematographer,, to help him capture the weightlessness of the angels. Through his directing, the audience can see and feel the agelessness of the angels, and understand the extraordinary amount of time and events that they have seen. There is an essence of calm, a sense of meditation, that overarches the entire movie-- certainly one aspect can be seen in how languidly the story unfolds, and how how slowly it takes for the plot to emerge. In fact, it takes almost 90 minutes until something actually begins to happen. Prior to that, the audience watches the angels observing the passage of time, and the thoughts and actions of the people who are being watched.
One of the most important visual aspects of Wings of Desire is the way the director portrays what, and how, the angels see the world, and how they assist the people who inhabit it. Even though the angels are watching and observing the human experience, they cannot actually feel or have an emotional connection. This is reflected in the fact that, when we are looking through the eyes of the angels, the whole world is in black and white. This is because the angels, who cannot feel or understand emotion, cannot have a range of the color spectrum. They can only see things in black and white which, while beautiful, is not realistic. In fact, the black and white cinematography in the film is achingly, enchantingly beautiful, while the colorful world seen by humans is more rough and grating, but also realistic. The viewer comes to understand why the guardian angels cannot participate in the real world-- because they are not actually a part of it.
Furthermore, the director does not spend a lot of explaining plot points. We never really understand how Damiel became human, or why Peter Falk gave up being an angel, or how Marion knew that she would meet Damiel at the concert that night. The plot never focuses on details; instead, it allows theses mysteries, like faith, to be accepted without any explanation. The plot may be the least important part of this movie. The director is far more concerned with making the viewer part of the angels experience and to consider the enormity of time. Winders does not want to give the viewer answer. Instead, he focuses on giving the viewer questions to consider, like 'Why am I me and why not you? Why am I here and why not there? When did time begin and where does space end?” These questions are far more important to Winders than mundane plot details.
