"Under the Berlin Sky" was taken in 1987, two years before the fall of the Berlin Wall. In June of the same year, President Reagan shouted in his speech: "Gorbachev, open this door; Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" The city devastated by the war is increasingly divided, and until today, the scar that has stood for 30 years still cannot be completely healed. Surrounded by walls, West Berlin became an isolated island. Before the war, all cultural centers and factories were in East Berlin, and the socialist government often planned to attack and occupy West Berlin. West Berlin is like a cemetery floating in the sea, and the people in it are naturally drunk and dreaming of death, living their days when they are drunk now. All cultures considered heretical in East Berlin flourished here, and West Berlin became a haven for electronica, goth and gays, and many famous bands and singers settled in Berlin in the 1980s. In "Under the Berlin Sky", the angel Damier and the heroine who fell into the mortal world also attended the scene of Nick Cave. The concert poster that Damier saw was tattered and pasted on the wall under the bridge. The performance time was handwritten on a piece of white paper and scribbled at the bottom of the poster.
"Under the Berlin Sky" director Wim Wenders constructed an unusual angel setting in the film. The two angels in the film are not cute children or gentle young women that people are used to, but two tall, stern middle-aged men who always wear a long trench coat with shoulder pads. , the hair is meticulously fixed in the back of the head with hair wax, they can see everyone and hear everyone's voice, but they can't be seen, and they can't change anything. Lonely child hoisted a magnet into the sewer trying to get two marks, dying middle-aged man muttering to himself at the scene of a car accident, a prostitute who doesn't earn enough money is crying in despair on the side of the road, a suicidal young man jumps indifferently Go downstairs. Among these two angels trapped in Berlin, Damier is tired of such "eternity" without color and feeling, and chooses to fall into the mortal world, feel everything like every mortal, put on their hats and dress up as The way they look, rub their hands when it's cold, drink a cup of coffee, and love someone. Cassirer continued to sit on the shoulders of the Goddess of Victory on the merit column, overlooking all living beings from the perspective of God. At the end of the film, Damier pen wrote, "I understand what an angel can't understand." This city is like a desolate dream, although dilapidated and devastated, it is full of unspeakable appeal. Young people come here to find themselves, artists come here to chase their dreams, low rents and infinite possibilities, barren life and unknown encounters, everyone is struggling to live or die in a dream, hoarse, and then die.
Many iconic buildings in Berlin appear many times in the film. Potsdamer Platz is perhaps one of the most iconic places. This small octagonal square was historically the gateway to Berlin, Europe's busiest transportation hub and commercial center, but was completely destroyed in World War II and was divided in two by the Berlin Wall during the Cold War. The old man in the film is sitting in the middle of the ruined Potsdamer Platz, reminiscing about the past. The film and Potsdamer Platz also symbolize the embarrassing catastrophe of the imperial city, as well as the Church of William I and the memorial column. At the beginning of the film, the angel is standing in the gap of the bombed-down William I Church, silently looking at the earth. This church, which once symbolized the power of the Prussian kingdom, was eventually turned into ruins in the fire of war; Cassirer often sat on the shoulders of the golden goddess of victory, although the goddess waving golden wings, but at the foot of the pillar. The reliefs and gun barrels commemorating the victory of the three wars in the 19th century were covered by the victorious countries after the war, and were not restored until the 1980s.
Berlin's National Library, Mercedes-Benz headquarters, and underground tech clubs transformed into circuses and abandoned factories symbolize some of the phenomena in West Berlin's postwar construction. Hans Schauroun's library, like the Philharmonic Hall and the National Gallery in Mies, belonged to the post-war West German government's efforts to establish a new cultural center. Two angels have appeared in this library more than once, watching and listening to all kinds of people. The Mercedes-Benz headquarters has become a new sightseeing spot, where people come to experience the modern atmosphere of the new Berlin, but young people who are hopeless in life are jumping off the giant, spinning Mercedes-Benz logo. Circuses, small live and electronica clubs, became the phantoms at the end of this "everything is east" world, where people applauded in amazement and swayed their bodies like puppets in intoxicated cannabis and electronica , However, nothing can change the confusion and numbness on their faces. This is a place without structure, without discipline, as if infinite freedom, but unable to find meaning.
Two years after the film was released, the Berlin Wall was finally torn down, and East and West Berlin was once again united. The punk and electronica culture of West Berlin quickly spread to East Germany, bringing astonishment to people living strictly under socialism. A large number of abandoned East German factories have become a turf for artists to occupy, and Prenzlauer Berg and Friedrichstain, which were once industrial areas, have also embarked on a similar path to Kreuzberg in a short time. To this day, Berlin still welcomes all people in the world who want to free themselves here with its high artistic tolerance. It remains an island on European soil, there will be no second Berlin in Germany, there will be no second Berlin in Europe, there will be no second Berlin in the world because its history is unique and its complexity is unparalleled .
"If there's any place God uses to punish angels, it's Berlin."
It's the worst place in the world, where everything gets lost. But it is worth the angels to give up eternal life and fall into the mundane, just to taste every bit of it. It's secret, unspeakable, intimate, like that circus girl, only you know what it means to you, no one else.
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