'Wings of Desire' Analysis

'Wings of Desire' Analysis and Inspiration for Our Film

'Wings of Desire' is a German fantasy film directed by Wim Wenders, and was released in 1987. The film is set in Berlin and follows a group of angels, all of which are seemingly invisible to the living population within the city, as they follow and attempt to help any inhabitant of the city who may be in distress. The film follows one angel in particular, Damiel, who falls in love with a human girl and decides that he wants to become human himself so that he can be with her, and experience regular human sensory pleasures, such as the enjoyment of food. This film has been somewhat of an inspiration during the writing process for our film, 'River', as it features a human-like figure being tasked with helping others by a higher power. In this film it is an angel helping and guiding the people of his allocated city. However, in our film the lead character is Charon, a popular figure in Greek mythology, who is known as the 'ferryman of Hades' as he carries the souls of the recently deceased across the rivers Styx and Acheron, from the world of the living to the afterlife. 

The main inspiration provided by 'Wings of Desire' was in how the lead character was portrayed. He is invisible to everyone that is currently alive, but can be seen by the other angels within the film. In a similar manner, the Ferryman is able to interact with those that are dead, but is completely invisible to the living as he roams the earth. Damiel is also portrayed as a regular guy, wearing normal clothing, and longing to be loved and noticed within the world. This inspired us to portray the Ferryman as a normal person also as, when we are introduced to him, he wakes up to the sound of a printer after sleeping at his desk, and then proceeds to make himself coffee. Our lead character also wears a long coat, just as Damiel does in this film, and will be shown in a similar way, only a lot more disheveled and clumsy.

'Wings of Desire' opens with a monologue from Damiel, speaking about when he was a child, and the innocence and lack of understanding associated with childhood in general. This is then followed by the opening titles, which roll to the film's haunting score. This differs greatly from what we seek to achieve from our film. It is clear instantly that this film is quite different tonally, compared to what we were going for. The opening to 'Wings of Desire' is incredibly poignant and somewhat saddening, whereas, while our film does feature numerous scenes with great emotional weight, is more lighthearted overall, with a slight satirical edge to it. After the credits there is a close up shot of Damiel's eye, followed by a rotated aerial shot of the city. We then see the lead character looking down from a ledge. This suggests immediately that Damiel is an outsider, as he observes from far above. This stands in contrast to our film as the Ferryman is introduced in the manner of an ordinary human being, sleeping at his desk and making coffee. After viewing this film, we decided to introduce the Ferryman alone toward the beginning as well, but decided to also go a completely different route in how he was introduced. 'Wings of Desire' also features multiple establishing shots of the city during the film's opening 10 minutes. We decided against the heavy use of establishing shots and chose to focus more on the characters, especially since a lot of the film will take place after one of the main characters, Kevin, has died. As we are essentially in the head of Damiel, toward the beginning of 'Wings of Desire', we hear the constant sound of numerous voices of the people living within the city. Damiel is able to hear what they are saying from afar, and is also able to listen to their thoughts. While the Ferryman may not do this within our film, he does hold the same sort of power as it resorts to those that are deceased. The film does focus on residents of an apartment block for a short period of time, however the film doesn't stay with them for long. This is due to the film trying to convey the idea that there are many more people living within the city. During our short film, there is a focus on Kevin, who has recently died. However, toward the end, the Ferryman crosses his name out and moves on to the next person, implying that, while our film does choose to focus on one man, he is not the only person to die on that particular day, and that the Ferryman's work is far from done.