Let me start out by saying that this movie is fatally flawed. Not
perhaps, the ringing endorsement you would expect from a man urging you
to part with your hard earned Dollars (or whatever) engaging in a net
hunt for a video of a film that has yet even to merit release as a dvd
in English, but I stand by it nonetheless. Until the end of the world
is a 175 minute (In it's premiere edit. There are beguiling rumors of a
six hour long directors cut, or rather lack thereof) long thriller with
few thrills, or is it crime caper with very little crime? No, it's sci
fi surely! Though without much in the way of futuristic tech... you see
the problem. The film lacks focus, becoming finally a meandering
journey (or 'dance around the planet'), tossing it's characters into
situations willy nilly as they pursue one another, each after very
different things. I'm not going to go into detail about the characters,
save to say that they are for the most part interesting, and if you
know anything about Wenders, not at all surprising. The film was made
at the height of early nineties post cold war optimism, and is
endearingly set in the year 1999, which I find interesting as a record
of the mood of the times all by itself.
All I can say of the journey is
that it may seem fragmentary and without purpose, but it is
<emphatically> going somewhere very interesting. I urge you to
watch it through. If I can be permitted to wander of into mystical
analogyland for a few short seconds, then I would say that this diamond
of a film shines all the brighter for it's charming flaws which only
serve to refract and amplify its intrinsic worth as a piece of art.
Also it's a philosophical road movie made by the king of the said
genre. And if that sentence didn't inspire the urge to splurge, then
you're dead inside Mister. Or Missus.
NB. While the movie is rare, it's not a 'family connections with a
mafia owned underground cinema holding a screening in Prague'
situation. You should be able to find it on Amazon or the like, for a
reasonable price. (Although god only knows how many copies are actually
in circulation, so good luck)