This is the first in a new series at BFI Southbank offering filmmakers, film professionals and thinkers an opportunity to reflect on European cinema.
BFI Southbank introduction: This month the European Union turns 25 – just as Britain’s relationship to the Union hangs in the balance. 12 Stars is a new series offering filmmakers, film professionals and thinkers an opportunity to reflect on European cinema and identity at a time of profound cultural and geo-political transition. In this first event Sebastián Lelio will introduce Wings of Desire with his thoughts on why the film particularly resonates. It’s the perfect moment to return to this romantic fantasy where angels keep watch over Berlin’s citizens shortly before the fall of the Wall. Two years after the film was released, Germany was re-unified and a new Europe was born.
Chicago Reader review:
Wim Wenders's ambitious and audacious feature (1987) focuses mainly on what's seen and heard by two angels (Bruno Ganz and Otto Sander) as they fly over and walk through contemporary Berlin. These are the angels of the poet Rilke rather than the usual blessed or fallen angels of Christianity, and Wenders and coscreenwriter Peter Handke use them partially to present an astonishing poetic documentary about the life of this city, concentrating on an American movie star on location (Peter Falk playing himself), a French trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin), and a retired German professor who remembers what Berlin used to be like (Curt Bois). The conceit gets a little out of hand after one of the angels falls in love with the trapeze artist and decides to become human; but prior to this, Wings of Desire is one of Wenders's most stunning achievements, certainly in no way replaceable by City of Angels, the ludicrous 1998 Hollywood remake.
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Here (and above) is the trailer.
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