One of Wenders’ most literary films, Wrong Move refracts the distraught temperament of the German soul through the bildungsroman trajectory of a stalled writer (Vogler again, goofily morose in his kitschy Nordic sweaters and brick-red varsity jacket). Playwright Peter Handke’s screenplay, a liberal adaptation of Goethe’s Wilhelm Meister’s Apprenticeship, is a platform for the philosophical discourses of a band of intellects and oddballs who form around Vogler in his pilgrimage from the northern tip of Germany to the country’s southernmost alpine territory. The soul-searching impetus for the trip is summarized in a tormented speech delivered by Vogler midway through—“How can a person write if he’s alienated from politics?”—and the discussions follow suit, revolving largely around the dialectic of passivity and participation in life and art. Embracing the scenario’s abstract theatricality, Wenders stages much of the film in long, sinuous tracking shots and peppers the mise-en-scene with such surreal props as a television beaming out a static signal, a distancing element that reflects the protagonist’s mental impasse.