This film is composed of fragments of the lives of urban residents. Through the eyes of two angels, we can see things we couldn’t see before, hear sounds we couldn’t hear, and understand the momentary feelings of people we know. , Their happiness and troubles.
The basic themes of Wenders' films are cities and people. Modern cities are monuments of human civilization; love and peace are only obtained after defeating the ruins left by war. The first half of "Over Berlin" used some flashbacks and documentaries. It was shot on coarse-grained film, giving the impression that history itself is full of scars. The American film crew came to Berlin to shoot, using the air-raid shelter as a studio. The old railway station in Berlin, the broken wall, the uninhabited area next to the East Berlin Wall, and the young man who committed suicide in a tall building in the center of Europe are all gone. … Angel Daniel has fallen in love with the beautiful acrobatic actress Marion since she met her. He was inspired by the American actor Fokker, he tasted the taste of being a mortal, and finally decided to stay in the world, and Marion combined, the film also changed from the angel's love to color film shooting, showing the beautiful feelings of sincere love in the world.
Wenders is a German romantic director. His films are more satirical than humorous and can be called standard German films. When the reporter asked him why he wanted to shoot "The Sky over Berlin" and why he chose to be in Berlin instead of other cities, he replied: "I returned to Berlin after staying in the United States for a while, and I am going to find my roots here and find my own German nationality. Roots; established his own film company in Berlin-road film production company; at the same time, the city of Berlin has a very unique history: its past, today and future." When Wenders made this film in 1987, The Berlin Wall has not yet been demolished. He believes that angels are messengers of peace, so he expresses his wishes through the mouth of angels. Angels can use invisibility techniques to walk on both sides of the city wall. They can walk to West Berlin on the side full of colorful paintings, and East Berlin on the clean white wall covered with barbed wire. The border guards can’t see them. Walk and discuss freely in the uninhabited area. This also represents the wish of tens of thousands of East German citizens at that time. They hope that one day they can walk on the wall like these two angels without hindrance. The film premiered successfully at the Cannes International Film Festival in France in May 1987 and won the Best Director Award. But at that time, no one would have thought that two years later, in November 1989, the Berlin Wall was toppled down, the no-man’s forbidden zone ceased to exist, and everyone could walk freely like angels. In this sense, this film can also be used as a very important documentary documenting Berlin, a city that was once divided into two sides by a wall. Perhaps the audience after watching this film is equivalent to taking a tour of Berlin, but the place they walk is not a place of historical interest, but a representative place of Berlin and the streets where ordinary people live.
The film "The Sky over Berlin" implies an ancient and eternal philosophical proposition: Know yourself. The film uses cinematic techniques to show this understanding. Once one can truly examine and know oneself, and can give rational answers to rational questions, human existence will have meaning. Milan Kundera once said a pun, a meaningful sentence: where is the existence and true meaning of human beings, we must look for it in digressive branches. The director believes that the transformation of anything to the better is possible only in fairy tales. Fairy tales are deeply rooted in people's lives and dreams. It is the most primitive form of all stories. You can broaden your horizons through fairy tales, and only when you broaden your horizons can you change reality. Fairy tales have a great connection with children’s fantasy. If we can learn to have a sense of novelty about everything like children, then we will look at and deal with problems with new eyes. The beginning of the film is the voice-over of an angel: When the child was still young, he was led to walk, hoping that the pond would become a big river, and the big river would become a torrent... Wenders believed that only children would raise some metaphysical questions, such as, why am I Not you? When does the time start? Where does the space end and so on. Almost no adult will ask such a question, not because they know the answer, but because they know there is no answer. And why use two angels to reflect Berlin's present and past in the film? Because they have supernatural powers, they can reveal facts that mortals cannot or do not want to admit.
In Wenders's film, various images contain metaphors and symbols. The unique perspective and profound meaning are not what the plot or lines can express. Wenders is the calmest and most frank person who reveals his personal actions and hobbies. He hardly uses montage in his films. The purpose of his filming is not to demonstrate something, but to show the objective existence of a thing.
As the main representative of the New German Film Movement, Wenders is the most enthusiastic advocate of the principle of "national film internationalization". He has no favorable impressions of Federal German films, but he has an ambivalent mood towards Hollywood in the United States. , Not only hates its ideological and economic colonization policy towards the Federal Republic of Germany, but also admires its highly skilled advanced technology and brilliant films. However, he was unsuccessful in filming in the United States, so he had to return to his hometown to make standard German films. The reason why he is famous in the western film world is because his films are full of new ideas, creating his own unique style and style-road films. The plot in his film is no longer important, but through endless and interesting travels, the audience can fully appreciate the sentiment and atmosphere of modern Western life. No wonder an American film critic wrote a book whose striking title is "No one can buy Wenders's eyes".
In the film "Over Berlin", the camera in the hands of photographer Alekan is like an eye that can see everything, an ear that can hear everything, crossing roads, squares, steps and any spaces, penetrating doors, windows and walls, aiming The daily life of Berliners. The audience followed the camera to the Memorial Church, the European Central Building, the National Library of Berlin, the Brandenburg Gate, the East Berlin TV Tower, the Victory Angel, Potsdamer Platz, the no-man forbidden zone by the East Berlin Wall, Bismarck Street, and the Lanc Schatz Bridge, Plane Tree Street in East Berlin... This is a major feature of Wenders' films. It not only has the characteristics of a "road film", but also clearly bears the mark of a European "author's film". It can be said that every visual picture in Wenders's film has its own signature.
Another feature of Wenders’ films is the description of friendship, mostly between men. However, in Wenders’ 13th film "Over Berlin", there is love between men and women, and the actress is in the film. Accounted for a large proportion. A reporter from Der Spiegel asked Wenders about this: “You finally showed love for the first time in the 13th film you directed; an angel kisses an acrobatic actress, and even sleeps with her. Does this mean you’re already in bed? Conquered impotence?" Wenders replied, "I am not an angel. You are right to say that this is a really beautiful love story. In my previous film "Paris in Texas" At the end of ", there is a shot of a little boy hugging his mother, and the father allows this other kind of love. In "Over Berlin", I want to continue to express love and express certain things as possible. Movies must continue to try to serve the public further. Movies will become angels."
Although the director himself has good wishes, the narration used in this film is in English, French, German and other languages. Some people’s voices are muttering to himself... It is almost impossible for the audience to hear clearly, and there is something in the film. The dialogue is also puzzling.
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