cindy_bcr
Joined Feb 2004
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Reviews9
cindy_bcr's rating
Good Friday is the darkest day of the Christian year, when evil was let loose to do the greatest damage. The actions of this movie happens all on Good Friday, when evil is let loose, not as the time when a Savior was crucified, but the daily evil that affects human life. The love of money is the root of all evil, and the members of law firm is filled with that love as they seek to control a hundred million dollar foundation.
We meet two men, Doyle and Gavin, who never would've met each other except for a car accident. Instead of exchanging insurance info, Gavin refuses to take the time and offers a blank check. Doyle wants to do the right thing and refuses the check, for which he is repaid by being stranded in the middle of the road. However, as Gavin was searching for his checkbook, he drops a legal file from his briefcase. That file becomes the basis of the story, which links the two men for the rest of the day.
It turns out that both men were on the way to court. Gavin, the rich white lawyer, arrives late and is given the rest of the day to retrieve the file. Doyle, the black alcoholic who works for an insurance call center, arrives too late at the custody hearing, and loses his sons to their mother who is set to move across the country.
So it goes back and forth, with a scene of each man's day being paired to one from the other's. As the story unfolds, we see that the lanes that were changed were not merely what led to the car accident, but their lives. A vendetta is unleashed as Doyle, so full of hope at buying a house and keeping his kids, responds to Gavin's destroying his hopes as a way to force him to turn over the file. Both men outdo themselves as they sink lower into evil.
Finally, Gavin wanders into a church to collect himself, and sees a processional of the cross; finding the only empty seat is in the confessional, he asks the priest to help him find some meaning in life. At the same time, Gavin is showing his wife the old house he planned to buy, empty except for a picture of the `Sacred Heart of Jesus' left in the closet. Neither man hears what they want, from the priest or the wife, but Jesus is what gives life meaning. No amount of money can fix our past mistakes. We can never get our lost time back, but we can move on and make the most of the time we have left.
We meet two men, Doyle and Gavin, who never would've met each other except for a car accident. Instead of exchanging insurance info, Gavin refuses to take the time and offers a blank check. Doyle wants to do the right thing and refuses the check, for which he is repaid by being stranded in the middle of the road. However, as Gavin was searching for his checkbook, he drops a legal file from his briefcase. That file becomes the basis of the story, which links the two men for the rest of the day.
It turns out that both men were on the way to court. Gavin, the rich white lawyer, arrives late and is given the rest of the day to retrieve the file. Doyle, the black alcoholic who works for an insurance call center, arrives too late at the custody hearing, and loses his sons to their mother who is set to move across the country.
So it goes back and forth, with a scene of each man's day being paired to one from the other's. As the story unfolds, we see that the lanes that were changed were not merely what led to the car accident, but their lives. A vendetta is unleashed as Doyle, so full of hope at buying a house and keeping his kids, responds to Gavin's destroying his hopes as a way to force him to turn over the file. Both men outdo themselves as they sink lower into evil.
Finally, Gavin wanders into a church to collect himself, and sees a processional of the cross; finding the only empty seat is in the confessional, he asks the priest to help him find some meaning in life. At the same time, Gavin is showing his wife the old house he planned to buy, empty except for a picture of the `Sacred Heart of Jesus' left in the closet. Neither man hears what they want, from the priest or the wife, but Jesus is what gives life meaning. No amount of money can fix our past mistakes. We can never get our lost time back, but we can move on and make the most of the time we have left.
It's difficult to make a sequel as good as the original. If it's done in the same style, it becomes a poor shadow. Here, Wim Wenders has made something different than in "Wings of Desire:" what I consider a comedy of a misfit ex-angel, to counter the desire of an angel to become human in the other film.
Near the end of the other movie, we saw one of the angels, Damiel, become human for the love of a beautiful trapeze artist. In this film, we see the other angel, Cassiel, become human by accident as he wanted to help people. As much as he wanted to fit in with our world, the more he tried to do good, the worse trouble actually made of things. He often quotes the Lou Reed song he heard: "Why can't I be good, make something of this life?"
There is a cameo appearance of a world leader, when Mikhail Gorbachev (filmed the summer after resigning as Soviet president) ponders the age-old question about the meaning and purpose of life; or two leaders if counting that the guard dog's name is Khadafy. There are jokes about getting lost between East and West, since the Wall no longer was there as a landmark. But there is the serious side at the beginning, of the war and the Nazi past, which is a little hard to follow. I almost forgot about it as I got caught up in the humor of the fallen angel, but even that had the darker side of an evil angel who was leading him astray. Yet the ending tied everything together nicely.
Like "Wings of Desire," there are nice transitions between black and white, which is how the angels see the world, and color, for how humans see things. There is also a poem started at the beginning, about humans being everything to the angels, when Cassiel looks down from the statue to "you whom we love." The angels are just the "messengers who bring light to those in darkness." The poem is repeated at the ending, adding that the message is love.
The angels lament that humans can only believe what they can see and touch. The Wall fell, the tangible symbol of the division between East and West, yet still one driver whose thoughts we heard couldn't see what the difference was between the two areas; freedom can't be seen or touched. Love, the angels message, can be neither seen nor touched, yet that, and not "blood and steel" (as said the Russian poet and diplomat that Gorbachev quotes), is what is needed for there to be peace.
Near the end of the other movie, we saw one of the angels, Damiel, become human for the love of a beautiful trapeze artist. In this film, we see the other angel, Cassiel, become human by accident as he wanted to help people. As much as he wanted to fit in with our world, the more he tried to do good, the worse trouble actually made of things. He often quotes the Lou Reed song he heard: "Why can't I be good, make something of this life?"
There is a cameo appearance of a world leader, when Mikhail Gorbachev (filmed the summer after resigning as Soviet president) ponders the age-old question about the meaning and purpose of life; or two leaders if counting that the guard dog's name is Khadafy. There are jokes about getting lost between East and West, since the Wall no longer was there as a landmark. But there is the serious side at the beginning, of the war and the Nazi past, which is a little hard to follow. I almost forgot about it as I got caught up in the humor of the fallen angel, but even that had the darker side of an evil angel who was leading him astray. Yet the ending tied everything together nicely.
Like "Wings of Desire," there are nice transitions between black and white, which is how the angels see the world, and color, for how humans see things. There is also a poem started at the beginning, about humans being everything to the angels, when Cassiel looks down from the statue to "you whom we love." The angels are just the "messengers who bring light to those in darkness." The poem is repeated at the ending, adding that the message is love.
The angels lament that humans can only believe what they can see and touch. The Wall fell, the tangible symbol of the division between East and West, yet still one driver whose thoughts we heard couldn't see what the difference was between the two areas; freedom can't be seen or touched. Love, the angels message, can be neither seen nor touched, yet that, and not "blood and steel" (as said the Russian poet and diplomat that Gorbachev quotes), is what is needed for there to be peace.
