What is wrong with peace that its inspiration doesn’t endure?
That line from the film “Wings of Desire” has stayed with me a long time.
Berlin, at the time the film was made, was a divided city in a divided country. Now (at the time of writing – August 2019) my own country is divided. I feel a bit like the old man of the film, the “poet” who wanders around the remains of his neighbourhood feeling there is nothing to go back to. Except I am wandering around Europe feeling that I have no country to go back to.
I wanted to go to Berlin because of the film. And now I am here – I want to see some of the places shown in the film.
“Wings of Desire,” (“ Der Himmel über Berlin”) in German, was released in 1987, 2 years before the Berlin Wall came down. I can’t remember how I came to see it – I guess I went with a current girlfriend … but it was a revelation with the opening cinematography of the Angels flying into people’s lives and being able to read their thoughts. I also loved the use of Peter Falk in a cameo role as it lent blunt humour to what was otherwise a rather serious (and pretentious) film.
The film says so much about our hopes and dreams, about the freedom of the Angels to walk across from East to West, about suffering and remembering (the old poet looking for his bar where he hung out with friends, pre-war,) about change.
So, I had a few must sees on my list – and I also was up for looking at locations that perhaps I wouldn’t remember. I knew the city would have changed. Many of the sites including the film set and the area that the old man was wandering in, looked as if they were up for re-development at the time the film was made. And so it proved.
I trawled the internet for some of the sites – and then researched on Google maps, to ensure that I could get to them by public transport. My idea was to take some photographs and check with stills from the film to see if those places had changed. My must sees included the bridge where the motorcycle accident happened, early on in the film. The site of the circus. The area where the snack bar stood, where Peter Falk speaks to an angel. The library where the angels help to calm people who are doing research, including the old man mentioned earlier.
And so, it was on one warm Thursday in July that I set off with my smartphone in hand, which would be my guide to the sites as well as being used to record them.
The first thing I realised was that the whole of Berlin was a character of the film. The angels swoop down on so many parts of the city that if you have seen the film you will recognise (and love) the city from it. So, I decided to start with the swooping over the cityscape and from the website I was able to see that this was mainly shot in Dernburgstraße in the west of the city. I rode the Berlin subway (which also features in the film) part of the way there and caught a tram to the strasse. It had obviously changed in the 40 years since the film was made but with a bit of imagination I could relive being there during the divide.
I had seen on the internet that there was an unusual art installation in one of the flats in the area – so decided to take a detour and go. Impressum was designed by an architect and he research all the people who had lived in a specific block of flats in 1934 and what had subsequently happened to them. As many of them were Jewish – this made for an uncomfortable outcome and the results of his research – papers, lists from the Nazi era, interviews with some who had escaped to places like the US covered the lobby of the block. It affected me deeply and may be the subject of another post.
From there I decided to go to the canal bank, where the Angels discuss what they have seen since the dawn of time. According to the website this was near to Mendelssohn-Bartholdy Park –so off I set to search. The station is situated over the top of the canal so it is easy to find and walk alongside. I’m not sure if it was the sight of all that water, but I suddenly realised something I had been putting off for a while. Not seeing anything but office buildings around me – I took the only route I could see and walked down a little pathway to the canal bank and found relief behind some bushes. It didn’t take long – and I was glad of that, as a little later I heard the engine of an approaching tourist boat, which meant that the 20 or so waving hands and the 40 or so cameras pointing at me – would have been in for a shock!
The next location was the bridge – and this meant a bus to Langenscheidtbrücke – and then a short walk slightly uphill and over the metro which can been seen in the film. The café where the accident happened is now a photocopying bureau and at the collision point – there was a motorbike! I’m not sure if this was by plan or design – if the former then it was a nice touch. I think this was the location that affected me the most. Mainly because it felt so similar to how it was in the film. I guess I wanted nothing to have changed – but Berlin needed change, the the wall needed to come down and I recall the celebrations at that time. The only permanent thing in life is change. I always hope for change for the better – but my better may not be for someone else. My desire for peace might keep someone else in pain. What I think is beautiful maybe an eyesore to someone else and vice-versa. I think Berlin brought that up for me big time.
It is with the dying man scene that I first picked up where the dialogue of the film became poetical and (if I am honest) a bit ostentatious – but then some of this may be an aspect of translation. It seemed to me that the Angel’s intent was to lead the dying man away from the worry of the mundane and let him focus on the truly beautiful things about his life and important relationships.
“The morning light. The child’s eyes. The swim in the waterfall. The spots of the first drops of rain. The sun. The bread and wine. Hopping. Easter. The veins of leaves. The blowing grass. The color of stones. The pebbles on the stream’s bed. The white tablecloth outdoors.”
I stayed for a while here – remembering the film and enjoying the sense of connection to it.
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I then decided to head out to the spot where the circus was located. I knew from looking at the Movie locations website that the area had changed beyond belief – but I hoped to still get a feel from the place. And I did.
Where the circus stood is now a small park and children’s play area and there is a kind of circle which with a bit of imagination you could picture held the big top. Just slightly further down is a ball park and on the wall there is a huge mural of an elephant – an extraordinary phantasy elephant which was worth the trip down to see.
Across the road from the park was a Brazilian café -where I considered feijoada, but it looked to be closing, so regretfully I walked further down to a more German establishment and settled for some schnitzel and to watch the world go by.
Just beyond the café was the entrance to the subway – so I used this to quickly get to my next destination, the Großer Stern, a spot where the angels often stop to view the city and one of the biggest tourist attractions in Berlin. I am told that the view from the platform underneath the statue is stunning, but as I didn’t have the stamina for the 281 steps. Instead I sat on one of the few seats that wasn’t owned by the competing pavement cafes and watched the world go by, again. That included a lot of tourists seemingly taking photos of me sat on that bench. Maybe I looked typically German? The traffic around the island there seemed horrific as was trying to keep out of the way of cycles and scooters who didn’t always stick to the designated cycle lane, made more difficult in that you had to cross it to see if the bus was coming from the only bench available near the stop. It was supposed to be every 10 minutes. It was a full half hour before it came and inevitably it was full.
I then knew what it was like to be in a German crowd as I was determined to get on the already full to bursting bus – although of course it wasn’t totally German as I heard French and Italian being spoken as well as English with a New York accent. I had a time limit. I needed to be at the library in the centre of Berlin for 5pm when there would be a guided tour. The library was one of the things I loved the most from the film.
I arrived at Unter Den Linden at 4.30 and it was only a short walk from there to Dorotheenstrasse.
I needed the loo again badly – but they were only accessible once you were in the library and this was not open to someone who isn’t a member – and until 5pm I couldn’t get in. Hold on for 30 minutes? Pleading to be allowed to use a loo does not come easily in a language you hardly speak – but eventually I was directed to the janitor’s office from where the staff entrance could be unlocked to allow me in. Again, pleading was not easy and this time it did not work. I think the response was “Speak German.” It certainly wasn’t “here is the key.”
By now other people were arriving for the tour and with a focus born out of bladder pressure I saw one couple take up the same journey as me – in that they went to the information desk and then they were re-directed to the janitor’s office. My prayers had been answered as the staff entrance was unlocked and I snuck in behind them – narrowly missing entering the women’s loo in error. Oh blessed relief.
Soon came the knowledgeable lecturer who would take us around the library, except of course that the whole lecture would be in German. I was the only one (of about 8 or 9 people) who was not a native speaker, but thankfully Hermann spoke a little English and I was able to keep up, though I am sure I only got about a 10th of the information the others did. Who knew there was so much to say about a library. For a talk that was supposed to take 30 minutes it was a full 1hour 50 minutes before we were let loose on the streets again. Although to be fair – having to repeat some of the information in halting English accounted for some of the time. Hermann, I thank you for being so patient with me.
I suppose at this point, I should be saying what the highlights of the talk were – like how the entrance was the only thing surviving from the war and the rest of the library as it exists now has been rebuilt behind it – or the cost of the new build, which is going on at the moment, bringing a lot of the book collection currently stored in different parts of rural Germany back to the capital. I should. But the thing I will always remember from this talk was first the emphasis on the need for quiet as we are walking around the hallowed halls and then almost as a response, one of our party’s mobile phone going off. Not only going off, but spectacularly so as the ring tone was the opening bars of the Radetsky March by Johanne Strauss the elder on repeat. (I will pause for a few minutes whilst those of you not familiar with the title go and find the tune. You will know it.)
Now as is usual with these things – there was the denial first (that’s not my phone it must be someone else’s) then the panic as she reaches into the depths of her bag to try and retrieve the thing. Then the further panic as she presses all buttons to try and switch the thing off, then the relief when it is done. Only for her to put the phone back in her bag and for the performance to start up again 5 minutes later. I know you might think that I am making this up – but this performance happened another 4 times including once in the quiet study area. Eventually, after pointed comments and dirty looks from our leader – she decided enough was enough and left the group early, phone in hand.
So, having told you that whimsical story – have you spotted the big flaw in my plan to visit the library featured in the film?
One of the things that became evident to me – is that the library was just (literally just) on the East side of the wall. Of course, there was also a “national” library on the Western side of the wall. Which one do you think “Wings of Desire” was filmed at? Which library was I taking part in a nearly 2 hour lecture of, mainly in a language I didn’t understand?
Making a mental note to really research things before booking up to them – I left the library and made my way back to my Airbnb for the night. I knew that the same talk was delivered at the “Western” library, but at the same day and time as the Eastern one – and as I was only in Berlin for the week – I wouldn’t be able to go. Moreover, I couldn’t enter the library without membership – so would only be able to gaze from the outside. Maybe tomorrow.
Tomorrow was a Saturday and I made my way to the other library – which was not as easy as it sounds. Although on Breite Strasse a main thoroughfare – it wasn’t (to my eyes) clearly signposted and I managed to walk past it. By the time I got there it was closed (1/2 day only on Saturdays) but I could see from the outside that this was the one featured in the film. Ah well, somewhere to put on the list for my next visit to Berlin! On the other side of the street was something interesting, a little roadside café – not too dissimilar to the one that Peter Falk stood in whilst talking to an angel. I took a photo and thought – all I need now is one of the old man, wandering around Potsdammer Platz whilst remembering the tavern and his drinking pals. Then I looked up and walking towards me – was him! Well it would have been if he had had a beard in the film. I was going to take a picture – but felt I would have needed permission first and how to ask for that in German? So, I let him pass, sure that somewhere that Angels were looking over me and smiling.
Comments
Good post Steve, I never saw the film,must look it up, great idea to revisit locations … Mick
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