“When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” – 1 Corinthians 13:11

God is not directly mentioned in Wim Wenders’ film, Wings of Desire. Neither is the specific passage from the Bible I’ve quoted above. However, both permeate the film as our main character, an angel named Damiel (Bruno Ganz), spends his time staring down at humanity from the top of the Berlin cityscape, contemplating what it means to be human. A poem that he frequently quotes, called “Song of Childhood”, sticks in his mind while he passes through the mortal world, unnoticed…except, of course, by children. Children can see angels, even if they don’t fully comprehend what they’re seeing. Even a girl with glasses – a girl who cannot see on her own – is able to see Damiel as he stands in her house, watching her family live.

Angels are voyeurs in Wenders’ film. They can watch you without you noticing them, and they can hear your thoughts and prayers. Angels know everything about you, and yet, they can do nothing. As Cassiel, another angel that Damiel frequently poses his psychospiritual questions to, basically says, their job isn’t to live or help humans live. Their only responsibility is to observe. Because of this, the life of an angel is very fact-oriented. It’s very black-and-white. Literally. The only time Damiel can see color is when he gets too close to humanity. He goes beyond his responsibility and helps humans feel and change emotionally, and because he has crossed a line, he now is gifted with the knowledge of human limitations.

The movie touches on several themes throughout the film, but one it continually refers back to is this: the untethered freedom the angels have is, ironically, confining. There is joy and pleasure in being limited beings because there is then a mystery to what is beyond those limits. Because their mind, bodies and souls are limited, humans have capacity to experience. Angels are not so lucky. They are distant, as we can see from their point-of-view throughout the film.

Damiel is content to think and ask questions until he sees the trapeze artist, Marion. Once he has seen true beauty as only a human can contain, his black-and-white world is shattered. There is no merely observing any longer. It’s live or die, despite his immortality. Luckily, he also has a brush with the actor, Peter Falk (yes, Peter Falk plays Peter Falk in this movie), who turns out to be a former angel who grew tired of immortality and decided to leave it for the human experience, like a selfish Jesus Christ. Damiel follows in Peter Falk’s footsteps, and abandons his angelic responsibility and immortality to become a human, waking up to a now-colorful Berlin. He meets Marion at a Nick Cave concert, and finally has a knowledge and understanding that no angel ever could.

Wings of Desire is a beautifully shot and thought-provoking film; a staple of the New German Cinema. Wenders manages to dive deep into spiritual questions and somehow, like an angel, keep it at an arm’s length for better examination. The poem, “Song of Childhood”, says, “When the child was a child, it didn’t know it was a child.” Wenders pulls back that curtain, and allows us to see that we are just children, and considering how children are portrayed in the film, isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

For anyone considering watching this movie, I would to emphasize that the film is unapologetically artistic in its expression – it’s meditative – and so it has a rather slow pace. Since the pace is intentional, I can’t really call it a flaw, but slow-burners aren’t for everyone. If you find yourself getting bored with slower films, would rather “turn your brain off and enjoy” a movie (a concept I disagree with entirely, but now’s not the time for that discussion), or you can’t handle subtitles, then you may want to skip this one. And I don’t say that to be pompous or snobby. I just think many people miss out on great cinema because they aren’t willing to challenge themselves. With that said, I encourage any and all who are willing to watch this deeply personal and moving film, whether you are religious, or not, or some ecclesiastical wanderer in the middle.

You can purchase this film <a href="http://<a target="_blank" href="https://www.amazon.com/Wings-Desire-Criterion-Collection-UHD/dp/B0BVXXD9Y2/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=wings+of+desire&qid=1692304127&sprefix=wings+of+des%252Caps%252C211&sr=8-3&_encoding=UTF8&tag=destinedforme-20&linkCode=ur2&linkId=30b1f3000f5407d550fac3bd6b94c874&camp=1789&creative=9325">Wings of Desire 4khere from Amazon.