The weight of the cinematic landscape in Wim Wenders' road trilogy films

Abstract

The three films that create Wim Wenders' Road Trilogy (Alice in the Cities, Wrong Move, Kings of the Road) are examples of modern cinema. Even though landscapes occupy an important place in road movies, in Wenders' modern trilogy they are much more critical. Here, Wenders experiments with different styles of modern cinema, and the presentation of landscapes is very diverse. In one film, long landscape scenes interrupt the narrative; in another, they have an alienating effect. Landscapes with different formal applications help to reflect the inner journeys of the characters. In the Road Trilogy, the cinematic landscape is a complex production with multiple intertextual references and the tension between different gazes complicates its representation. Rather than being 'pure', the autonomous landscapes in Wenders' films are dialectic constructs helping the characters to change. Wenders emerges as a pragmatic director experimenting with different formal practices in his early period.