Released Date:
1988-05-06
Languages:
German, English, French, Turkish, Hebrew, Spanish, Japanese
Countries:
West Germany, France
Runtime:
128 min
Rated:
PG-13
IMDB Ratings:
8.1 (43509 Reviews)
Director:
Wim WendersWim Wenders
Peter Handke (screenplay)
Richard Reitinger (screenplay)
Visible only to those like them and to human children, Damiel and Cassiel are two angels, who have existed even before humankind. Along with several other angels, they currently wander around West Berlin, generally on their own, observing and preserving life, sometimes trying to provide comfort to the troubled, although those efforts are not always successful. Among those they are currently observing are: the cast and crew of a movie - a detective story set in WWII Nazi Germany - which include a sensitive and perceptive Peter Falk; an elderly man named Homer looking for eternal peace; and the troupe of a financially failing circus, which has closed early for the season because of those financial problems. One day, Damiel tells Cassiel that he wants to become human, to feel not only the sensory aspects of physical beings, but also emotional aspects. He embarks on this thought with the full realization that there is no turning back if he decides to do so. His thoughts are largely because he has fallen in love with Marion, the trapeze artist with the circus. If he does decide to become a human, there is no guarantee that as a human that he will be able to locate Marion or that she will return his affection. His angels, however, may be looking out for him.
Released Date:
1991-12-25
Languages:
English, French, Italian, Japanese, German
Countries:
Germany, France, Australia, USA
Runtime:
158 min
Rated:
R
IMDB Ratings:
6.9 (6285 Reviews)
Director:
Wim WendersMichael Almereyda
Peter Carey
Solveig Dommartin (story)
Wim Wenders (screenplay)
Wim Wenders (story)
Set in 1999, a woman (Dommartin) has a car accident with some bank robbers, who enlist her help to take the bank money to a drop in Paris. On the way she runs into another fugitive from the law (Hurt), an American who is being chased by the CIA. The charges are false, he claims. They want to confiscate a device his father invented which allows anyone to record their dreams and vision. On the run from both the bank robbers and the CIA, the couple span the globe, ending up in Australia at his father's (von Sydow) research facility, where they hope to play back the recordings Hurt captured for his blind mother. Set in the futuristic year of 1999, a subplot about a damaged Indian nuclear satellite crashing and causing the end of civilization is a puzzling addition to the film.
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