A young, volatile wannabe writer Wilhelm (Rüdiger Vogler), first seen breaking the windows of his bedroom with his fists, leaves home at his mother's urging. On the way to Bonn, he encounters allegorical assortment of people who accentuate his (non) character. They are: old man who was a marathon runner in 1936 Berlin Olympics, his young mute companion- Mignon (13 year old Nastassja Kinski being very Loiita), an actress Therese (Hanna Schygulla) and a fat Austrian poet who tags along.
This early Wenders and Peter Handke collaboration is beautifully framed by Robbie Müller and is filled with these people pairing among themselves, talking philosophically while being on the road together. Wenders succeeds at creating a melancholic character, a young man without qualities, who can't commit to his object of desire and writing at the same time, who struggles with Germany's ugly past, who wants to experience life but doesn't quite know how. With the film's elliptical end, Wilhelm isn't even sure if he made the right decisions about everything thus far. He remains to be an observer of the world, detached, basking in his loneliness. Vogler has quiet intelligence to his approach and Wenders sets the tone right for his protagonist. I liked this gentle, contemplative film.
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