When the ravages of material life get unbearable and the cross that you brook becomes an unnecessary burden the heaven is the likely scapegoat for a quest for salvation and alleviation of a divine kind. When forlorn eyes look toward the skies expecting answers silence is the only thing we get. This is the view of the world that Wim Wenders captures in his abstract, offbeat independent 1987 German feature ’Wings of Desire’. 1998 saw Brad Silberling (who previously directed the kiddy fantasy ’Casper’) attempting a remake of sorts simply called ’City of Angels’ in a bid to give this recondite theme a mainstream touch.
The story is set in a tormented world where angels roam invisible to the human eyes watching over God’s children, listening to their thoughts, feelings, celebrating their lives and assisting them during their final moments when their end is near. But the hitch is they cannot intercede in their fates.
One restive angel named Seth (Nicholas Cage) yearns to feel human emotions, sensations and mortal experiences. Here are his own words, ’Tired of being witness, of standing by and watching…never doing…but just to know for a minute what it is like to have weight to pound the ground with your feet.’
In course of his endless duty he chances upon a proficient heart surgeon Dr. Maggie Rice ( Meg Ryan) at a time where she loses her emotional footing grieving over a lost patient. He is instantly drawn to her and in course of easing her pain falls in love with her. Maggie is intrigued and entranced by this mysterious man who is unlike anyone she has known before. This is one of the entries she makes into her journal of thoughts about Seth ’I met this man…I’m so confused…When he is there…. Everything around me is so vivid…. It’s all breathing…its alive…. I’m alive..When he’s gone I get the strongest feeling he is still there.’ After this Seth’s mission in life is to defy odds to be with Maggie. Into the picture comes Nathaniel Messenger (Dennis Franz) a former angel who chose to fall to earth and give up his divine status all for the love of a woman and the zest to become human.Seth is inspired by Nathaniel and his fortitude and he decides to take the plunge.As an angel Seth does fall to the earth trading his immortality for love but he rises a human with a heart soaring with happiness and the joy of being alive.
’City of Angels’ is not just a mere love story of two people from two dimensions. But is a story of the choices one has to make in the pursuit of true love and the lengths one would go to realize it. Brad Silberling’s adaptation of the script does not have the starkness of the Wender’s original (Wenders has assisted in the script process of ’City of angels’) but it lends a poetic touch to the events that lace the plot. The pace is at a complacent level, could be slow if you are the kind of person used to swift action takes.The visual imagery is very soft, perspicacious especially in the scene that highlights Seth’s Fall. It is a definite work of a dexterous cameraperson, John Seale (Academy and Brit award winner for Minghella’s ’The English Patient’). The background score composed by Gabriel Yared (’The English Patient’) embellishes the visual element. The film’s soundtrack harmonizes with each and every sequence in the film and hosts a unique collaboration of contemporary artists and a few veterans. To name a few Alanis Morissette, U2, Paula Cole, Peter Gabriel, Jimi Hendrix and John Lee Hooker. Primarily it stands different from other movies that have Angels in the forefront like ’Angels in the Outfield’ (Danny Glover, Christopher Lloyd), Micheal (John Travolta), ’The Preacher’s Wife’ (Denzel Washington, Whitney Houston). Once again it is one of those movies that leave you with a sigh in your heart and wistful glaze in your eyes.