City of Angels (film)

Yozet Barreto

Id number: 18994124

City of Angels

Directed by: Brad Silberling

Produced by: Charles Roven, Dawn Steel, Charles Newirth

Written by Wim Wenders, Peter Handke, Richard Reitinger, Dana Stevens
Starring Nicolas Cage, Meg Ryan, Andre Braugher, Dennis Franz, Colm Feore, Kim Murphy.
Deirdre O'Connell, Alexander Gould
Music by Gabriel Yared
Cinematography John Seale
Studio Regency Enterprises
Distributed by Warner Bros.
Release date(s) April 10, 1998 Running time 114 min. Language English

City of Angels is a 1998 English language romance film directed by Brad Silberling. The film stars
Nicolas Cage and Meg Ryan. Set in Los Angeles, California, the film is a remake of Wim Wenders'
1987 German film Wings of Desire (Der Himmel über Berlin), which was set in Berlin, West Germany.
In Los Angeles, Seth (Nicolas Cage) is one of many Angels who watch over humans and protect them in
unseen ways. The movie portrays angels in a somewhat traditional role without referencing a specific
faith. Seth's main responsibility is to appear to those who are close to death and guide them to the next
life. As part of this task, Seth and one of his fellow angels, Cassiel (Andre Braugher), like to ask people
what their favorite thing in life was. But despite their daily encounters with humans and their ways,
they appear to have trouble understanding human beings and their ways.

While waiting to escort to the other world a man who will not survive heart surgery, Seth is impressed
by the vigorous efforts of the surgeon, Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) to save the ill-fated man's life and her
sincere anguish at her failure to do so. (The man is in fact standing with Seth watching Maggie try to
save him.) Seth soon becomes preoccupied with Maggie and decides to become visible to her despite his
obvious inability to give her many convincing details about himself, such as what he does for a living or
even his last name. Despite this, they develop a friendship which soon turns to mutual attraction,
although Maggie is already involved with one of her colleagues (Colm Feore) at the hospital.

Seth then meets Nathaniel Messinger (Dennis Franz), one of Maggie's patients, who can sense Seth's
presence and that of other angels. Nathaniel soon relates to Seth that he, too, had once been an angel
but, by way of the free will granted to angels, decided to become human through the process he refers
to as "falling". Seth begins to consider exercising this option so that he can be with Maggie in a fully
physical and emotional relationship. When Maggie receives a marriage proposal from the fellow
surgeon she is seeing, she finds herself having to choose between him and Seth.

Having realized that Seth is impervious to injury, Maggie finally confronts him and demands to know
who or what he really is, but she is unable to accept the revelation and sends him away. Maggie later
talks about Seth with Nathaniel who gradually reveals his own angelic origin. He explains to her why he
himself chose to become human and points out that Seth is thinking of doing the same.

Seth decides to become human through the symbolic gesture of jumping from a top a skyscraper.
Immediately upon awakening from jump, he starts to experience all of the human feelings and
sensations that he had never been able to understand, beginning with physical injury and pain. Up until
this point, Seth's personality and emotions, like those of all the other angels, have been very subdued,
but that starts to change.

Now human, Seth has to find his way to the hospital to see Maggie, but he's told that she has gone to
her uncle's mountain cabin for a break. Penniless and naive, he can't pay for the journey and ends up
getting mugged and having his boots taken from his feet by a gang of roving predators. He eventually
hitches a ride to Lake Tahoe and appears, soaked and cold, at Maggie's doorstep. Seeing the split lip
and condensed breath coming from his mouth in the cold air, Maggie realizes that he has given up his
exalted status for her love. She sees to his wounds and then they enjoy warm, passionate lovemaking at
last, in an explicit scene where she asks Seth to describe what it feels like inside her.

The next morning, as Seth is in the shower, enjoying his first sensation of running hot water on his
body, Maggie rides her bike to a local store to buy some pears for him. On her way back, happy and
fulfilled, she rides her bike with her eyes closed and her arms wide open to the Autumn sunlight and
her bright future with Seth. Her happiness is cut short by a truck that catches her by surprise when it
pulls out in front of her. Seth apparently senses that Maggie is in trouble and runs to her aid. He
arrives in time for Maggie to tell him that she sees the angels who have come to escort her away.
Although Seth is no longer able to see the angels, he knows they are there and begs Maggie not to look
at them. Maggie tells him that she's not afraid anymore and that when they will ask her what her
favorite thing in life used to be, she will say it was Seth and swimming.

Now grieving and alone, Seth is visited by his former colleague and friend, the angel Cassiel. Cassiel
offers comfort and asks him whether he regrets his decision to become human. Seth's answer is a
resounding “no”:

“ I would rather have had one breath of her hair, one kiss of her mouth, one touch of her hand,
than eternity without it. ”

Seth mourns for Maggie and begins a difficult adjustment to his new life.

The final scene recalls an earlier one with Nathaniel. It shows Seth at the beach where the angels meet
every day at dawn and at sunset to listen to the celestial music and commune with eternity. With
Cassiel and the rest of the angels watching, Seth expresses his joy in being human and the fact that he
has come to terms with his new life by running into the water and playing in the waves. In a rare
moment of emotion, Cassiel is seen laughing joyfully for his old friend.