ABSTRACT

Then it’s back to outer space for this film, and some clichéd shots of the really big picture, along with more marmalade about the blues “exploring the lowest depths and lifting us up to the highest heavens.” The face of Blind Willie Johnson or the actor playing him is superimposed on the heavens-or some version of the stars done by computer graphics for all I know-while we hear Johnson’s real voice. Then Wenders reverbs that amazing voice, as if he couldn’t hear that the wonder and terror of this vital death were already nicely mixed in Johnson’s voice in a way that no other singer has ever matched. Wenders then adds yet more Twilight Zone-sounding woo-woo to the soundtrack. And then Lou Reed plays over the credits.