The story of the film “wings of desire” is narrated from the perspective of two angels in the film. They, along with other angels, roam the city and help people by listening to what’s going on in their minds. The angels cannot directly intervene in affairs or prevent problems and distress, but they try to help by stirring emotions and feelings in humans. This sometimes has an impactful effect, leading to new thoughts in people, while at other times it doesn’t.
In the opening scene of the film, the camera looks at childhood from the viewpoint of the film’s angel. Children can see the angels from the beginning of the film and talk to them. The film portrays children separate from the worldly life process and clearly shows them observing between the heavenly and earthly realms, allowing them to have a connection with the world of angels alongside their life in this world.
Venders clearly states his purpose for the film’s audience from the beginning. He believes in a goal that is emphasized at the end of the film by mentioning Azou, Tarkovsky, and Trofimovski as three prominent directors of world cinema who have turned into angels. He looks from the perspective of the film’s angel, viewing from heaven to earth and placing us in the position of an angel listening to the lives of the city’s people. Gradually, one of the angels decides to join the human society because what he sees in human life is fascinating to him in every sense. He wants to experience life in all its dimensions, taste it, touch it, feel its pain, and live it. The film builds up gradually and reaches its climax and conclusion, making the story more engaging and believable for the audience.
Despite the possibility of the story losing its appeal after the angel becomes human, it prefers to spend a considerable amount of time on Demil’s transformation into a human. The film’s duration is over two hours, and it’s in the last half-hour that Demil becomes human. Before this event, the audience fully understands why he wants to become human. Despite the prevailing view of life as hard and full of problems, both angels who come to earth in the film are happy about this event and see this life as full of countless mysteries and secrets. This is expressed by both of them.
Henri Alkan was the cinematographer of the film. The visual style of the film and the transition between black-and-white and color scenes are significant. The black-and-white world belongs to the angels, and the colored world belongs to humans. The contrast of colors in the film enhances the impact of different parts of the story and helps the audience distinguish between the two different worlds of the film. This is further enhanced by the significant influence of the film’s music, which comes in at just the right moments and helps advance the story better.
Touching Marin prompts Demil to feel the essence of life. Initially, Demil touches stones in Marin’s room and wants to feel them, and then when he touches Marin’s shoulders, he touches her. The connection of these two scenes with each other and the gentle touch of the hardest object and the softest object are some of the best scenes in Wenders’ film. This scene is complemented by Demil’s transformation into a human, where the first thing he thinks about to understand if he has become human is touching a stone. This event becomes more interesting when Marin also feels Demil’s touch on her shoulders and puts her hand on his shoulder.
Peter Falk, an American cinema actor, appeared in this film as himself. Falk talks to the angel throughout the film without seeing one, even shaking hands with him. After becoming human, Demil goes to Falk and realizes that Falk was also an angel in past years and is willing to come to earth of his own accord. In 1993, a sequel to this film titled “Far Away, So Close!” was made by Wenders, using the cast of the previous film, but it couldn’t have the power and strength of the previous film. Also, in 1998, a weak remake of this film titled “City of Angels” was made by another director, which is a severely weakened version of this film. The film merely focuses on the relationship between an angel and a woman without staying loyal to the original story.