"Faraway, So Close!" is a very confusing movie if one has either not seen its predecessor, "Wings of Desire," or knows something about that movie. I was in that state when I first viewed "Faraway, So Close!" and could only think that I was watching an artsy movie. Fortunately, the movie is now available on DVD in a widescreen anamorphic version with the director's commentary of Wim Wenders. The movie began in black and white and seemed to morph every now and then into color that had me wondering whether or not I had a defective DVD. Eventually, I figured out, as the movie was running, that this was intentional with the black and white sequences depicting the angel(s) observing humans. In the meantime, I managed to miss much of the subtlties of the movie that were only revealed from the lips of Wim Wenders in his running audio commentary. With a backdrop of Berlin, the movie was filmed in German. Fortunately, there are English subtitles and it is sometimes odd when the dialog actually breaks into English. As Wenders points out, this was his third movie with Nastassja Kinski that began with her very first movie in 1975, "The Wrong Movement," and was followed by the 1984 "Paris, Texas." Spaced approximately 10 years apart and with "Faraway, So Close" in 1993, Wenders mentioned that it is now time to do a fourth picture with Nastassja. One can only hope that it materializes.

The basic story has to do with the protagonist as Cassiel, the actor Otto Sander, taking human form from his previous angelic state in which he can only observe and sympathize. An event propels his wishful transformation into the human dilemma. Wim Wenders said that this film was a continuation of "Wings of Desire" and not a sequel. It is probably splitting hairs because I do not readily understand the difference, if any. Nastassja Kinski has the major supporting role of Raphaela and is always shown in black and white. Raphaela becomes Cassiel's, always present, angel. It is a very difficult role to pull off because Nastassja only has her voice (in German),her facial expressions, her hands, and her body movements to bring her character to life. Her on screen presence appears natural and effortless. It is nothing less than a superb performance of a first rate actress. But it is up to Otto Sander to carry the movie. The supporting cast is first rate.

My third viewing of the film was an experience. 146 minutes passes relatively quickly. The film is dripping with intensity and is larger than life. Wim Wenders' vision and its execution is astonishing and will reverberate through time because it captures the essence of life and death. It is a movie director's awesome tour de force.

Knowing well that sequels have the potential to mar their predecessors, either through overkill or omission, I stayed away from "Faraway, So Close!" for a long time, letting the DVD linger on the far side of my Netflix queue.

"Wings of Desire" is a unique creation; every moment of that movie seems abuzz with life, activity, invention, compassion, intense joy and sorrow. It seemed like everyone involved felt the urgent need to tell that story at that particular historical moment.

The sequel starts with that same feeling, and for the first 45 minutes or so, I was happy to immerse myself back in that world. However, once the various subplots intervened, and the angelic protagonist began dealing with a standard-issue mafioso in a situation that seems lifted from a wacky 1980s comedy, "Faraway, So Close!" loses its way.

Still, I don't regret seeing the sequel. Some moments are wonderful, especially Cassiel's elegiac bedtime-story biography, spoken to an old man who is losing his memory and who knows that Cassiel has been along for the ride. The acting is also terrific, except, oddly, for Willem Dafoe's bizarre, inexplicable character -- the movie grinds to a halt (literally, at one point) whenever he appears.

I have to admit that the last twenty minutes made no sense to me. (Spoilers follow.) Wasn't Cassiel's entire mission to stop the mobster from seeing his sister and niece (and if so, why? Bad influence)? And how, exactly, did that acrobatic stunt save the day? The badguys just gave up after that, apparently, for undisclosed reasons -- maybe they felt bad. Also: after a presumed eternity of watching humanity and reading our minds, Cassiel's plot is to use a poorly-concocted stunt? He should've spent some more time watching heist movies.

Anyway, all that aside, this movie is still worth seeing; it's just not in the same class as "Wings of Desire." That's not much of a complaint -- very, very few movies are that good.

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".