This film lived to have its remake in City of Angels, and even though I hold nothing but deepest admiration for the work of Nicholas Cage, I chose not to see it. I simply felt that anything after Wender's work would be a sacrilege.
The story of the film is rather simple. It is on of those films which can be compared with an anecdote about Alexander Dumas who had a writer's block and someone suggested to him to write about love between man and a woman and the suggestion lifted the block completely. It is a story about two angels, observers of the city of Berlin, guardians of the right path, guardians of kindness. They recall the times before the primeval river found its bed, the time when the glaciers were melting. They are the reflection of the solitude of God who had no one to witness the creation. They move invisibly throughout the city, watching, understanding, helping, comparing notes.
The film, as opposed to the films of today, does not rush into the plot, but develops with angelic patience. Its opening lines and its sound in German: "When the kid was a kid, it asked all kinds of questions: When does the time begin and where does the space end?" This puts to rest once and for all everyone who thinks the German language is a harsh and unfeeling one.
Damiel (Bruno Ganz) and Cassiel (Otto Sander), the two angels, the center of the story, are listening to the thoughts of an old Holocaust victim and passengers on streetcars, and they unsuccessfully try to stop the suicidal man. Then, Damiel stumbles upon the circus and meets her. He falls in love with a trapeze artist, a woman that gave her life to the circus. He even visits her in her dream. He is touched by her vulnerability and kindness and talks about being able to feel to Cassiel. As Damiel becomes human, the film turns from a black and white mode to a colored one, symbolizing exclusiveness of the thoughts of angels.
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