The Wings of Desire - Term Paper Example

The Wings of Desire The wings of desire are Franco- German movie that was produced and released in the year 1987. The movie which is a highly rated film surrounds the foundation under the genres of romance and fantasy. Wim Wanders who is both the director and the producer of this movie can be said to have justified the movie that he partly wrote with assistance from Peter Handke. Wim Wanders is a renowned director who started his career in films back in the year 1970, he is known for some big movies like the wing of desire which also had the sequel that had been awarded the title ‘Far away, so close’ and the city of Angels which also had an American remake in the year 1998. The movie fantasy genre is based on the build up the movie was awarded being that the characters are angels who are some of the major characters in the film. The romance genre in the movie has been brought forth by the relationship established from the angel characters in the movie. Through the comparison with other related movies, the cinematic techniques in the movie this paper will bring out the historical back ground of the movie and the aesthetic aspects that builds up from the character relations within the movie and the related movies. From the background of the prior films that have been done by Wim Wanders, a number of those have been awarded both the English and the German titles. These include such movie as the ‘Reverse angle’ and the ‘Room 666’. From such movies, Wim Wanders acquired the experience of using the German setting in his movies which he later came to transfer to the movie Wings of desire. In relation to the cinematography techniques that have been appealed in the movie, one can clearly relate the experience gained by Wim from the prior movies as the plat form and foundation of the experience. There are certain techniques that can be said to have been reveled in relation to the cinematography techniques. These can be established from the lighting that have been used in the movie to appeal o some of the nature that the director deemed necessary as to bring out the message he very much needed the public to relate to. By the use of the dual black color and the white color scheme the director can be said to have mange to create the philosophical, aspect of the movie and brought out the respective setting. Another aspect that can be said to appeal to the nature of the movie is that the movie is a Franco-German movie. This is a special alliance that came in place after the Second World War, at this time, the enmity that existed between France and Germany ended. The movie basis The movie basically embodies a story between angel and mortals, the director then award the angels a characteristic that they are invisible. Ideally, the angels are comfort givers for the families in Berlin. The two angels in the movie are unseen to the humans who from their side are able to see. The angels listen to the thoughts of the people and then offer them comfort. From the movie plot there are settings which establish and breaks down the movie main plot and the sub plot. The main plot of the movie is centered on the relationship that is established from Daniel’s desire to be with the beautiful trapeze girl who he fall in love with deeply and starts allowing the considerations of turning to human so as to be with her. The romantic theme is established further in the relationship between Damiel and Marion. This is brought out by the fact that the two aspire to be with each other, the barrier between them that is the mortality of Marion and the immortality of Damiel is equally significant as it build up most parts of the movie plot. Damiel aspires to be mortal as he wishes and longs for the things that the mortals undertake in the likeness of the human sensory pleasures and the touch of a loved one. Marion on the other hand also wishes she was immortal which she clearly bring out in her Cinematography techniques One of the most significant techniques that are used in the movie is the use distinguished color that is used in most of the movie parts. From the angelic perspective the producers of the movie chose to use the black and white, a rich sepia toned color and also use of color. In all these, are perspectives of the different people respective of being, mortals or immortals (Martin & Fran 48). The creator of the movie tends to want to bring out the notion that how the angels see the world is not the same manner that the humans see the world. As much as the angels being spiritual, the creator of the movie postulates the feeling that spirituality by itself is not enough and one requires the small things in life to feel the satisfaction. The cultural setting of the movie is established by a sub plot that using Peter Falk, he appears on this movie as himself and his subplot has been established from a filmmaking perspective. He arrives in Berlin to make a movie about the Nazi past. The basic setting of the movie is the west of Berlin, during this time; this place is still enclosed by the Berlin wall. Other aspects also create the phenomenon that can be said to be an aspect that brings forth the establishment of the contemporary setting is the use of build up characters. From the rhythmic flow of the movie the angels come across the old man called Homer in the story. The old man in the movie is looking for Potsdamer Platz. This is a very important intersection that can be found in the middle of Berlin. The history of this particular intersection goes back as far as the cold war and the World War 2. From this establishment one can deduce the cultural importance that the people of Berlin had bequeathed the wall from the feeling that the old man; Homer gets disappointed when he gets to the place and there is a new wall known as the Berlin wall which is also full of graffiti. From the use of the ma that is made known to the audience as an older person the idea expressed here is that the Berlinians have a cultural connection from the intersection. The cultural background that has been used in the movie can be relayed in other movies such as the American friend which is a 1977 movie. With this movie being German based it touches on the cultural background as there are aspects of the World War 2 in the movie. The main character in the movie is an American that lives in Germany. There are interactions of the character such as Jonathan who is ill and decides at some point to go receive medication in France. This aspect in the movie touches on the fact that there is a relationship that was established specially between the countries after the Second World War. This can be then related to the fact that the movie has a common background with the initial Wim Wanders movie; Wings of desire. With the American friend plots, one can deduce the postulations being appealed to be in some way different from the movie Wings of desire. With Berlin in the movie being portrayed as a character in the movie, the creators chooses to term Berlin a site where memories and stories are crafted and traumas and loses are relieved and come to terms with. This contrasts to the setting from the Wings of Wanders in that there is hopefulness portrayed by the angels who gets the experience of a life they came to long for and wish they had. In the American friend, hopefulness tend to be an aspect that is portrayed from most of the movie character as some of them indulge in vices and some are sickly and lack the desire to recover. From the construction of the movie the creator;Wim Wanders can be said to be fond of use of the character Bruno Ganz in movies with the German setting. This being that the character is well conversant with the German settings and brings out the characteristic perspective of how life in Germany could be respective to what position one lives in. comparatively the movie American friend was chosen as the best foreign movie as the setting awarded was also a west Germany. Wim Wanders tend to bring out the cultural background by awarding his characters in movies an aspect that appeals to what can be related to the country’s culture. In the Wings of desire, the girl that is Marion is an artist and in most parts including how the angel Damiel, meets her is through her artistic activities. In the American friend there is artistic work that is appealed in the movie too. The character Tom rippley played by Dennis Hopper is a character that indulges in the forgery of art work, the two movie aspects can then be said to bring out the artistic background of Germany. The aspects also qualify to bring out the nature of the contrasting features from the two movies. In the American friend, the Artistic work involved is forgery which brings out the vices since art is done for the wrong purposes where as in the Wings of Wanders Marion is an artist by career and relies on it for her livelihood. Another movie that can be said to have been awarded a similar setting being a post World War 2 movie is the movie called the marriage of Maria Braun. The movie is a 1979 movie having been created by a German director called Rainer Werner Fassbinder. The star in the movie is a lady by the name Maria Schygulla. The post war appeal in the movie has been regarded to the lady being that she is married to a soldier Hermann. Through this setting, the creator tends to bring out the manner the war had affected the lives of different people in Germany. The effects being on the negative side, where there is the life of a lady that changes when the husband is in prison and is forced to get work from a person who then complicates her life further. The death of the man who lives with Maria ensues when Hermann reappears having been thought to have died by his wife. Therefore, death and destruction of life are the thematic relevance that the creator of the movie tends to want to bring from the movie plot (Yeh et al, 59). Comparatively to the movie wings of desire, there is similarity when it comes to the issue that there is movement in countries that had engaged in war with Germany. When Hermann deserts Maria, he runs to Canada where he used to send her red roses from every month. Another aspect that can be said to have been added in the movie intentionally to bring out the historical background of the World War 2 is the corporation of scenes where there is a picture of Adolf Hitler hanging from the walls. From this angle, there is a notion that as much as the effects of the war were drastic with personalities like Hitler having been portrayed as the person responsible for the initialization, people like Maria did not realize the magnitude of the effects. The establishment of the plot setting where the director bring out the fact that Maria is trying to turn her life around is basically on the fact that there is a relationship established between Maria and an African American man. through this , there is an establishment of the modern German aspect initially, being that there were even Hitler’s pictures on the wall of Maria, this contrasts with the modern time where this shows the relationship terms that have changed for the good of relationship to all. From an appreciative view, Germany having the racism back ground. The creator of the movie tends to postulate that the post wars Germany has been more appreciative of all races unlike the older times. Conclusion In movies, there are many aspects that the creators tend to bring forth in their movies as to bring out the thematic aspects that they need to send as messages to their target audience. From the examples that have been used in the movies above, the creators all had the post wars theme to bring into account for the audience to be able to appreciate. In some of these movies the creator tends to postulate the degree to which the changes have happened ever since the war had ended like in the activities of Marion in the Wings of desire where she looks to make career out of art. Ina movie such as the American friend, the creator tends to bring out some of the vices that gores on despite having passed a warring era (Chang, 57). Through cinematic technique used in films there are qualifications of the directors and the creators in general to be able to capture the perspective of different aspects in life. By a movie creator showing the nature of problems in a movie setting he is able to bring this out in characters activities which then reprehensively goes to the broader view and can be related to a bigger group of people. The use of color in movie is an aspect that can be used to send out the basic information that the director intends for the audience to see. All in all movies are like mirrors through which one can view the society from and know the perspective which different people tend to view the world with. Work cited Martin, Fran. “Review of The Hole (Dong).” Intersections: Gender, History and Culture in the Asian Context 4 (2000).Web. September 2000. 9 December 2013. Yeh, Emilie Yueh-Yu and Darrell William Davis. Taiwan film directors: A treasure island. New York: Columbia University Press, 2005. Print. Chang, Kai-man. Disrupting Boundaries of Desire: Gender, Sexuality, and Globalization in Tsai Ming-liang's films. Ann Arbor,MI: ProQuest LLC, 2008. Print. Read More