There's an angel on your right shoulder...

The movie being screened at today's lecture, Wings of Desire (by Wim Wenders), was very different, in a very good way using an existentialistic way of telling a story which made me think about people and how we actually exist on our planet - if things happens because we want to, or because there is actually a little angel on our right shoulder telling us what to do next...

Angels can't taste or smell things like you and me, but they can hear other people's thoughts. This is what we hear in the biggest part of the movie, while watching their daily duties being performed in a black and white format. Humanbeings thoughts in a big messy stream of consciousness kind of way when our main person, Damiel, who obviously is an angel, travels around on our planet to learn more about our way to live. When being amongst the mortals, the angel tries to inspire them and give them hope to want to keep trying and to retrieve the will to live again. A lot of the thoughts coming through is normal day to day thoughts, such as what we need to do next, but a lot of them have quite a dark and depressing twist to them, and we can for example see one guy committing suicide and just before this action here his last desperate thoughts before throwing himself down a roof top.

Throughout the movie they keep repeating how everything was massively different and much easier when we were kids, when we weren't as bothered about the problems we are as adults, and how much simpler life was.

Angels are not really supposed to stay on Earth and become mortal, but as in so many other scenarios we've heard about before, our angel falls in love with a mortal girl, Marion, who works at a circus. As we follow her and her life story we come to understand that she is tired of life and it also occurs to us that she is not far of maybe committing suicide when flying around on her trapeze - the suicide thoughts might also have to do with the fact that this is the circus last show and with her losing her freedom whirling around in the trapeze, she probably starts feeling trapped in herself with nowhere to go, looking for an easy way out.

As this happens time speeds up, rapid camera movements and people shouting take place on the screen, and it kind of feels a cry of desperation. It's about this time the suicide with the guy I mentioned earlier happens as well.

After several weird and confusing conversation with anyone and noone the angel sets his first footprint on Earth and stays down here with us mortal, choosing to become a mortal himself as well. As this happens, colour is added to the screen and we understand that the black and white way of telling the story is through the perspective of an angel, and the colourful way of seeing things is through the perspective of a humanbeing. For the first time our now fellow humanbeing tastes things and sees things in a mortal kind of way and he sets off to find Marion, the love of his life and the reason why he decided to become one of us.

The story ends with the two finding one another and living happily ever after... I guess? But for me thoughts came alive in my little head... Is love reason enough to give up on yourself and your previous life? I'm not sure. I guess if you get something out of it yourself, other than love that is, or is everything in this world actually revolving about love and the relationship between to partners for the rest of their lives?

Even more scary, is there actually someone else making our choices? I know for example sometimes when it feels like someone is watching me or knocking some sense into my head when I'm totally off track, but if that's the case, what do I actually decide for myself? Or is my life totally controlled by some kind of a big brother angel, who works to create some kind of an equilibrium within the society? Either way I don't want to think about it too much cause it does really freak me out a little bit that someone else is in charge over what I'm doing and not me myself...

Existentialism...

What do you think?