Wings of Desire

A 1987 film by Wim Wenders originally called Der Himmel über Berlin (lit: 'The Heavens Above Berlin').

The film depicts two angels wandering in Cold War era Berlin and listening to the thoughts of humans, among them an old man looking for the now-destroyed Potsdamer Platz and recalling the good times he used to have there; Peter Falk As Himself; and a lonely French trapezist, whom one of the angels falls in love with.

A Sequel, Faraway So Close, was made in 1993. The first film received a very loose American remake, City of Angels, in 1999.

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Der Himmel über Berlin contains examples of :

• Arc Words: The "Lied vom Kindsein", with its repetitive structure, appears throughout the movie.

Als das Kind Kind war...

• As Himself: Peter Falk plays more or less himself (to the point where children call him "Columbo"), an American actor filming a movie in Berlin. He's also actually a former angel himself.
• Deliberately Monochrome : The film is shot that way because the angels don't see colors until one of them becomes human.