The sky over Berlin and angels in the library
Wim Wenders made "The Sky Over Berlin" in 1987, and the film won the Best Director Award and a number of other awards at the Cannes Film Festival in the same year.
The creation of the film was partly inspired by the poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke, whose poetry, and Wenders's, are inhabited by angels, and most of the dialogue and narration were written by Peter Handke.
The story follows Damiel and Cassiel, two angels who wander around Berlin's Walled Wall and listen to the thoughts of the people they meet. Angels are the guardians of memory throughout history, not only those related to major events, but the thoughts, memories and feelings of ordinary people in everyday situations that can have a fateful weight for them. Wanderings are cyclical and the two angels often return to the same places, until finally Damiel, motivated by his love for an acrobat in the circus, decides to leave his immortality and live as a man.
One of the places where all the angels often come is the State Library, where 3 scenes were filmed.
In a way, the library is a concentration of memory, everything important that binds us to the past of humanity and what the present wants to leave to the future, and at the same time many important personal moments take place in it, especially for young people to whom that future will belong. The library speaks with the voice of all people and is a place of silence and tranquility; it is a sanctuary but also a refuge; it is a place where one can isolate oneself and feel belonging to everything human.
In the first scene, Damiel and Cassiel enter the beautiful architecture of the Berlin State Library with a perfectly acoustic ceiling, walk through it listening to fragments of thoughts and read sentences, and meet other angels. The movement of the camera through the space, the choral singing that accompanies the scene, the murmur of voices and visual images create an original film-poetic language.
In another scene, Cassiel listens to the thoughts of the old man Homer, who observes models of the globe and the solar system in the Library, flips through a book with photographs, remembers the war and wonders how to write a new poem dedicated to peace, where everyday things are as worthy of attention as warriors and kings.
In the third scene, Cassiel is sitting in the Library with empty tables, the cleaners are coming, and the other angels are there. A multitude of voices have fallen silent.
This film classic is remembered for its exceptional visual beauty, excellent music and for its special film narration. It remains relevant for the questions it asks about what makes a person complete, how to establish closeness and unity with others, what role art plays today, or who is the artist/narrator who will give meaning to countless voices and create a human story out of them.
