Wings of Desire and INTPs.

[zackp24]

Wim Wenders' film "Wings of Desire" is one of my absolute favorite films.

It moves me more than any other film I've seen. The plot concerns angels that live in Berlin who cannot be seen or heard, and cannot directly affect anything, but who simply observe humanity with a detached yet sympathetic eye.

The focus is on two angels in particular: Bruno Ganz's Damiel watches humanity with a growing love and awe; the more he sees, the more he desires to step into reality and become human. He wants to affect things, to be recognized by people around him, to really exist. When he falls in love with a trapeze artist in a local circus, he's finally ready to make the step into existence.

Otto Sander's Cassiel, on the other hand, observes continuing pain in humanity, and slowly becomes more and more isolated, as he withdraws from people almost altogether.

trailer

So, why have I bothered with all of the above? I've recently been reflecting on why the film has such an effect on me, it occurred to me after I shared it with an INFJ friend of mine that the film may resonate particularly well with our personality type (my INFJ friend appreciated the film's craftsmanship, but said that he personally strives in the opposite direction as Damiel, so the story didn't really connect as well).

As an INTP, I completely relate to both Damiel and Cassiel. I often feel like the angels of Berlin, like I'm hovering around people observing them unnoticed, detached, almost like I'm on a separate plain of existence as everyone else. Sometimes, like Cassiel, people sadden and sicken me, and I withdraw into isolation, but more often I'm like Damiel, desperately wanting to really step in, be noticed, affect the people around me.

Anyhow, has anyone else seen this? What do you think if you have? Does anyone feel their personality type resonates especially effectively with this film?

 

[BigApplePi]

I saw "Wings of Desire" on your recommendation yesterday and watched it twice. The 2nd time with commentary. I can't say much how the film impressed me in words. I have to let it sink in. Visual art yes, but something more. I tend to believe these stories and how it affects me I won't know until later.

 

[zackp24]

Well damn. I just kind of resigned this thread to eternal oblivion. Excellent! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's extremely beautiful, and affects me in a way that very few films do. Do you feel any sort of connection or identification with either angel and/or the concept in general? And I wonder how much the personality type may have to do with how well it resonates.

 

[BigApplePi]

Well damn. I just kind of resigned this thread to eternal oblivion. Excellent! I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's extremely beautiful, and affects me in a way that very few films do. Do you feel any sort of connection or identification with either angel and/or the concept in general? And I wonder how much the personality type may have to do with how well it resonates.

Well that's a highly personal question which has me wondering how much different people would react ... not a random sampling of reactions. I can see how an INTP could feel outside the world of people and peer down on them observing uninvolved. I don't normally react like that when I watch a film. I identify directly with everyone without being aware I am doing so. I took the main angel as an observer who reacted slightly. You could see his occasional smiles as when he smiled at or with children. (Children were suppose to see him.) I took it for granted he was a person who could fall in love with that circus girl because he was that type of guy. (Notice the other angel didn't.) Not only was she a beauty but she had healthy thoughts and seemed a happy person who like the angel was missing something needed to complete her. Each angel was different. Peter Falk had his own personality.

What I bought that was unique was the beauty of the world observed. It was not just people, but Berlin, buildings and eternity. The angel was forever but decided he wanted contact. Si! He missed Si. I don't know if this is anywhere close to what you saw that was special for you.

 

[zackp24]

I was mainly wondering how much of my/any reaction to it may have to do with personality type vs. each person's specific experiences. Of course, the film will hit everyone differently, but I was wondering how much commonality may be found within the personality type.
For me personally, the idea or feeling of being an observer of people while lacking a real or distinct connection with them taps into a way I find myself feeling often, and the desire to step into the world and actually feel like a part of everyone is something I'd always felt and struggled with, but wasn't really sure how to communicate.

And I LOVE the way the film reveals the inherent beauty in everything. When Damiel becomes human, watching him experience the cold, eat an apple, drink coffee, clap his hands, just savoring every single small sight and sensation. Every time I watch the film, the first thing I want to do is go take a walk and really experience things, just look at trees, buildings, the sky, touch grass, smell the air.

 

[motrhead]

This is my first post after a long hiatus, and life changing events...but anyway... the title of the thread jumped out and grabbed me.

This is my favourite film, and has been for twenty years. I recommend it to all of my friends, but sadly only about half of them get it.
I completely identify with Damiel myself, so I do relate to the detached observer idea...but there is something else special about this film. The whole aesthetic experience gives me goosebumps (and occasionally a moist ocular orb) for the sheer beauty; and being a hopeless romantic, I also related to being in love with the girl from afar.
Not to get too hung up on labels...but, besides INTP, I am also HSP (and somewhat artistic), and suspect this also has something to do with my love for this movie. Far Away, So Close is pretty good too, but the magic isn`t quite there. Hero was another favourite movie, for the cinematography, but the emotion of Wings of Desire (and also What Dreams May Come-another gem) is something special.

 

[Bird]

I'm going to watch this.

I will give you my thoughts
afterwards.


(the only reason I'm saying
this is so if the thread gets
buried by the time I feel my
thoughts are adequate, I
will be able to find it without
having to try to remember the
title... because that's not my
thing.)


Edit: I also think Zackp24
and motrhead are soul mates.

 

[zackp24]

Motrhead: I agree entirely about the aesthetic experience of the film, it's incredibly beautiful and there's definitely something more to it than any sort of type resonance (which itself would just be a small piece of a completely individual reaction). And yeah, Faraway, So Close! didn't work nearly as well for me.

 

[BigApplePi]

Ya know it's been a few weeks and a few films since I saw "Wings of Desire" for the first time and you guys are right. Something about it stands out.

The girl on the trapeze falls short of flying and she is Earth-bound but she is still on Earth. The angel can't "reach" Earth but gets all the rest of the benefits. We would like to enjoy those benefits, I suppose, yet the story tells what the penalty is for doing so. So she has what he is missing and we have to ask ourselves: Where are we?

 

[motrhead]

I just followed a link back to this thread from the "last movie you watched" thread.
I bought this film again a couple of months ago, so that I could show it to my girlfriend (completely forgetting that I had loaned my brother my original copy). She loved it too, and has watched it a few times now. We seem to love all the same movies! How cool is that?
Wings of Desire still amazes me, and is still my number one fave film.

 

[Cherry Cola]

Bah I've had this on the shelf for too long now.. you've convinced me, I'm gonna watch it.

 

[ProxyAmenRa]

How the hell does this thread have 7000 views and only 10 posts?

 

[PhoenixRising]

I haven't seen it.. but from your description I can relate very much with the concept. Personally, I prefer to be an invisible observer, like a ghost. There are days when I would relate more with Damiel, and others where Cassiel's pov makes more sense. I suspect this is mostly due to the extremely polar Fe of INTPs, sometimes we love everyone, sometimes we want to blow up the world

 

[Beat Mango]

Link for the movie?

 

[Nick]

Great, now I'm gonna watch this in an hour.

 

[r4ch3l]

I can rarely concentrate enough to get absorbed in movies but this is the film that has had the most impact on me as well and made me want to become a filmmaker [a goal I still have but am not delusional about because of my atrocious social skills and hope to pursue later in life upon becoming more financially secure].

I would argue that beyond the philosophical draw the pacing and framing of the film is brilliant and very much mirrors the speed and way in which the INTP brain works at its most peaceful and balanced -- i.e. not overwhelmed but still rooted in experience in almost a dissociated way where insight is drawn which results in emotional satisfaction. For me the film was comforting and utterly engrossing for these very primal reasons. TBH I have not watched it in about a year (although I have seen it at least five times) and will probably return to the thread with some opinions in the next week or two.

"I must put an end to coincidence"
...melt.

The whole film reminds me of a Bassnectar (AWESOME dude from my hometown Santa Cruz) lyric: "I hear she craves spirit and the Gods crave matter, that gave disaster, chaos to laughter". I write a lot about the concept of angels and that if there are gods we exist in a symbiotic relationship with them...where we are jealous of them...and they are jealous of us..."they matter that we are watching".