Faraway, So Close! (1993)

A group of angels in the German capital look longingly upon the life of humans.

Director:

Wim Wenders

Writers:

Wim Wenders (script by), Ulrich Zieger (script by)

Stars:

Otto Sander, Bruno Ganz, Peter Falk

Nominated for 1 Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Otto Sander	...	Cassiel
Peter Falk	...	Peter Falk
Horst Buchholz	...	Tony Baker
Mikhail Gorbachev	...	Mikhail Gorbachev (as Michail S. Gorbatschow)
Nastassja Kinski	...	Raphaela
Heinz Rühmann	...	Konrad
Bruno Ganz	...	Damiel
Solveig Dommartin	...	Marion
Rüdiger Vogler	...	Phillip Winter
Lou Reed	...	Lou Reed
Willem Dafoe	...	Emit Flesti
Monika Hansen	...	Hanna / Gertrud Becker
Günter Meisner	...	Fälscher
Ronald Nitschke	...	Patzke
Hanns Zischler	...	Dr. Becker

Storyline

A group of angels in the German capital look longingly upon the life of humans.

---

Plot Keywords:

angel | afterlife | 1990s | berlin germany | germany | 

---

Taglines:

Your favorite Angels are back!

---

Genres:

Drama | Fantasy | Romance

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for language

Did You Know?

Trivia

The name of the circus company boat is "Alekhan", the name of the captain character, Henri Alekan, who was the cinematographer on Wings of Desire (1987).

---

Goofs

When Karl decides to dissolve his business partnership, he wades knee-deep through a flooded tunnel corridor becoming wet and filthy. Yet when he emerges from the tunnels, his pants are fluttering around too much to be wet and appear dry, and in the following scene after arriving at his destination and taking a nap, his clothes alternate between dirty and clean.

---

Quotes

Emit Flesti: Have you heard the prophecy? "In the Year of Hate, when all that is foreign is despised, dark riders will enter the harbor, seize the ship and everyone on it and sail them straight into hell"
Cassiel: I know all prophecy, but not this one. You made it up.
Emit Flesti: What's the difference? It just happened.

---

Crazy Credits

The film is dedicated to actor Curt Bois who worked with Wim Wenders in "Der Himmel über Berlin".

---

Connections

Referenced in Learning to Fly (2005)

---

Soundtracks

Faraway, So Close!
Written and Performed by Nick Cave

User Reviews

It is a wonderful movie about time , angels and how wonderful is it to be a human being

I can say this movie is one of the best movies I have ever watched (and I watched a lot of them). The roles were very well interpreted by good actors. Even when they are no actors at all, as Mikhail Gorbachyov who appears in a scene. Many things make this movie special. In it five languages are being spoken. Nevertheless it doesn't really matter. The protagonists can understand what is being said as though language difference is not that relevant for humans to understand each other. The pictures are the usual great Wim Wenders pictures. Black and white pictures indicate the coolness of the world of angels while colors indicate how colorful the world could be for humans (if they can see it!). It is an analysis of the relationship of man with the world around. Humans think that they are controlling the world, but the world is controlling their lives in fact. It shows how blind we can be in contemplating the beauty of the world around us. In this matter one could mention the movie called "The awakenings" (1990) although the two movies are in most aspects different. It is a movie about an angel who wants to become human in order to be able to understand humans, and how he gets into a complicated life. It helps a lot to see "The wings of desire" where the story between angels and humans started. Some things are hard to understand when you don't know the first movie. This movie is also an analysis of time. Emit Flesti (read backward Time itself) is a very interesting character that can communicate with both angels and humans, and who speaks about almost always about time and its meaning. For me he was also a mix of Lucifer and the death angel as well. The background of the whole story is Berlin after the fall of the wall, whereas "The wings of desire" took place before the end of the cold war.

This movie makes a genius use of fantasy to analyze our lives. Its main message is : "We (the angels) are not the message. We are the messengers and the message is love".

Details

Country:

Germany

Language:

German French English Italian Russian

Release Date:

21 December 1993 (USA)

Also Known As:

Faraway, So Close!

Filming Locations:

Germany

Box Office

Budget:

$10,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$55,019, 26 December 1993

Gross USA:

$810,455

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$810,455

Company Credits

Production Co:

Road Movies Filmproduktion, Tobis

Technical Specs

Runtime:

144 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby

Color:

Black and White Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1