FARAWAY, SO CLOSE!

Directed by Wim Wenders

Synopsis

3 years after the fall of the Berlin Wall Wenders made a follow up to “Wings of Desire”. Berlin had become a different city and it appeared to him that he could tell this change best with the same characters. And so Damiel (Bruno Ganz) is now married to Marion (Solveig Dommartin), runs the pizzeria “Da Angelo” and the two have a child. The solitarily remaining angel Cassiel (Otto Sander) is more and more dissatisfied with his destiny as a mere observer of human life and finally decides to take the great leap. As Karl Engel he soon gets into a dubious milieu and finds himself as the assistant of the German American Baker (Horst Buchholz), who makes his money with shady arms deals and sends porno films east in exchange for weapons. Furthermore Cassiel alias Karl Engel meets “Emit Flesti” (Willem Dafoe), a Mephisto like character, who seems to embody “time itself”. And then there is Raphaela (Nastassja Kinski), his guarding angel companion who worriedly observes his development. Cassiel’s adventure turns into a “thriller” when he decides to put a stop to Baker’s game. With the help of Marion’s Circus friends he brakes into the weapons stash underneath the old Tempelhof airport and lets the Kalashnikov crates float into the Spree river. Peter Falk and detective Phillip Winter (Rüdiger Vogler) are also in on it again. Heinz Rühmann can be seen in his last role. Mikhail Gorbachev and Lou Reed appear as guests. He never gathered a more improbable cast says Wenders.

Cast

Otto Sander, Peter Falk, Bruno Ganz

Crew

Production – Road Movies Filmproduktion GmbH (Berlin), Tobis Filmkunst (Berlin)
Director – Wim Wenders
Producers – Wim Wenders, Ulrich Felsberg
Screenplay – Wim Wenders, Ulrich Zieger, Richard Reitinger
Director of Photography – Jürgen Jürges
Editor – Peter Przygodda
Sound – Gunther Kortwich