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A history of the German Cinema, 1945-1980s
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Wim Wenders Biography |
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Wim Wenders emerged as a
major filmmaker during the New German Cinema movement of the seventies. His
first movie to attract attention The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick
(1971) tells the story of a professional soccer goalie who abandons his team
and sets off on a personnel odyssey. |
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Cassiel the angel perched on a statue in Far Away, So
Close. |
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Kings of the Road tells a story particularly
appropriate for the state of German cinema in the mid seventies, as a
repairman ventures from one small town to the next, fixing outdated cinema
projection equipment. This unhappy portrait of the state of German cinema was
sadly accurate, as the German theaters had deteriorated since their peak
years in the late fifties. Many directors, like Wenders, worked extensively
in television, for it provided them with a means for making a living not
offered by German cinema. Other directors turned to the international market,
as did Wenders with his next film. In
1977, Wenders shot the American-French-German production The American
Friend. It tells the story of an American art dealer (Dennis Hopper) who
specializes in forgeries. A gangster pressures him to commit a murder, as
payment for a past favor. Hopper then turns to a picture framer (Bruno Ganz),
suffering from a rare blood disease, and convinces him to commit the murder. The
American Friend is a haunting picture of mystery and alienation, where no
one is quite who he seems. As the movie bounces back and forth between New
York, Hamburg, Munich, and Paris, the world becomes one blurred tangle of
skyscrapers, subways, highways, and trains. Working
for Francis Ford Coppola's Zoetrope Studios, Wenders filmed Hammett,
his first chance at a Hollywood-style production; however, Coppola wasn’t
happy with the results and reshot parts of the movie, delaying the release of
the movie over three years. But
with Paris, Texas (1984) Wenders found great success, winning the Palm
d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Telling the tale of a man (Harry Dean
Stanton) who suffers amnesia after the breakup of his marriage and wanders
through the desert, Paris, Texas is filled with haunting and
discordant images of the American Southwest. Working from a screenplay by
American playwright Sam Sheperd, Wenders created a movie filled with
wide-open spaces, much like the void in the life of the movie’s central
character. His
Wings of Desire and its sequel Far Away, So Close also brought
him great acclaim. Telling the story of an angel (Bruno Ganz) who longs to
experience the sensations of mere mortals, to taste food, to hear music, to
feel rain, etc. Told with a camera that silently glides through the streets
of Berlin, through libraries and apartment buildings like a ghost, Wings
of Desire paints an evocative, wistful view of the world as seen through
the eyes of an angel. Painted in cold black and white scenes for the angels,
and then shifting to brilliant color for the humans, Wings of Desire
is an elegant and beautiful film, punctuated by surprising doses of comedy,
thanks to Peter Falk in a supporting role. Sandwiched
between these two movies, Until the End of the World leaps into the
future for a picture of a world overtaken by technology. (See the related
article.) In
his most recent movie, Beyond the Clouds (1995), Wenders shares
writing and directing duties with Italian-master Michelangelo Antonioni.  Wim Wenders feature films:
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Alice in den Städten
Form:
Fades
and dissolves, extra-diegetic music, diegetic music, photographs, long-takes,
panning shots, intertextuality (Hollywood film; the road movie), conventional
continuity editing
Themes:
America,
German identity, filmmaking (telling stories and photographs), Masculinity
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A history of the German Cinema, 1945-1980s