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Hear Me Out: Wim Wenders is the most under-appreciated filmmaker of all time
Far too often, it is merely the names of Stanley Kubrick, Akira Kurosawa, Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles that find themselves on lists of the greatest filmmakers of all time, with multiple other foreign creatives barely getting a look in. Whilst each aforementioned directors are certainly worth their salt, their interaction and impact on contemporary society can be challenged by the international icon Wim Wenders.
Born in Germany shortly after the end of the Second World War, Ernst Wilhelm “Wim” Wenders is something of a unique voice in European cinema, becoming a major figure in New German Cinema throughout the late 20th century. Releasing his first film in 1971 in the form of Summer in the City, Wenders’ very feature debut would stamp his style on contemporary independent cinema, even if it is considered to be one of his weakest movies to this day.
Directing The Goalkeeper’s Fear of the Penalty and The Scarlet Letter in 1972 and 1973, it wasn’t until Alice in the Cities, the first of his unofficial Road Movie trilogy, that Wenders would become a tour de force of German cinema. Released in 1973, the film follows a journalist who, upon befriending a young woman, is saddled with her nine-year-old daughter, Alice, with Wenders working closely with the iconic cinematographer Robby Müller to bring the film to life.
Capturing a changing, ever-more connected world in rich monochrome, Müller and Wenders told a touching story that speaks to the scrolling, dynamic ebb and flow of life seen through the eyes of a young girl. This vivid style was further established with Wrong Move and Kings of the Road, as Wenders topped off one of the greatest and most idiosyncratic trilogies of modern cinema.
Poetic and wistful, the films of Wenders mourn for a time long forgotten, demonstrated through the aforementioned trilogy along with his classic The American Friend and the director’s 1984 Palme d’Or-winner, Paris, Texas.
A road movie like no other, Wenders’ distinctly European viewpoint makes his handling of Paris, Texas, a distinctly American story, unusual. The German filmmaker was well seasoned in the road movie sub-genre, though, with his years of experience allowing him to create a raw, powerful and character-led drama that feels like the perfect collaboration of European and American filmmaking ideals.
Cancelling out the loud percussion of fierce engines, turbines and motors, Wim Wenders creates a road movie that embraces silence, taking note of the protagonist’s quiet psychology to create a meditating masterpiece that feels perfectly tapped into a real-life love story. For many, his 1984 classic is his magnum opus, though the film is difficult to compare to the remainder of his filmography, adapting his style like any seminal band might.
The fantastical drama Wings of Desire would follow for Wenders, with the 1987 classic challenging the constructs of genre with an elegant tale that follows an angel who studies human activity across the skies of Berlin and longs to be mortal. More flowing and expansive than his previous works, Wings of Desire speaks to an entirely different set of skills that Wenders possesses.
Speaking of such skills, his adventures in documentary filmmaking later in his career would further express his willingness to diversify and experiment, making such modern greats as Buena Vista Social Club in 1999 and The Salt of the Earth in 2014.
Hiding in the background of filmmaking innovation throughout the late 20th century, Wenders should certainly be considered one of the greatest directors of all time, creating a collection of untouchable art that remains an indelible part of European cinema. Without a grandiose style and frenetic narrative features, Wenders is far too often omitted from conversations regarding the greatest filmmakers of all time. It’s about time that changed.
