I wasn't entirely sure whether this was a sequel or remake to Wings of Desire, a beautifully melancholy film about an angel who becomes human. According to IMDb, it's a sequel so I'm going to go with that.Cassiel (Otto Sander) is an angel who watches over the people of Berlin. He is fascinated by their lives and often wishes to become one of them, which he does when he intervenes to catch a little girl (Aline Krajewski) who falls off a balcony. Elated but now facing the issue of suddenly existing with no identification, he seeks out another angel-turned-human, Damiel (Bruno Ganz), for help. He also meets a mysterious stranger calling himself Emit Flesti (Willem Dafoe) who is not precisely on his side. Cassiel must navigate this familiar-turned-alien world now as a participant, not as an observer.
I'm sure that's some sort of metaphor for Berliners after the Wall came down. All of a sudden they had a whole city again, instead of just half of one. Plus, this was about the time when the children of Nazis had to come to grips with the legacies of their parents and having to carry the scars of something that happened before they even had memories. That kind of national guilt has got to fuck you up inside.
This film lacks the dreamy introspective quality of the first film. It's not terrible but I didn't feel moved by it. Mostly I kept thinking how bizarre a cast it had with cameos from Peter Falk, Lou Reed, and Mikhail Gorbachev.
Really. Freakin' Gorbachev.
Anyway, it's not going to kill any of your brain cells to watch this but I'd say stick with the first one if you're looking for your arthouse fix.
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