Angels In America
Listening to: Tick Tock - Peak:Shift
Suffering from a little fatigue yesterday I got Angels
in America out on DVD. I missed it when it was on TV and so I took advantage of
my vitamin
B deficiency to blob in front of the TV.
The movie carries some heavy baggage. Like many heavy lifting machines it is built
big… very, very big. Angels In America is a mammoth 330+ minutes long. It shares
the same ironic characteristic of many large human machines - it is run by only a
handful of people. For such a long movie the cast is quiet small, but it is stella.
I think it probably reflects the fact that it started life as a play.
I am not all that partial to heavy human condition material… I get enough of it
from my inner monologue. But for the first time I found it riveting (maybe I am growing
up). The story held me.
The story revolves around two men in 1985 who have contracted HIV/AIDS. One very powerful
and very much in denial and one far less powerful and very accepting. Both men are
connected via a series of lovers and assistants. The exact composition of this linking
lends itself to much of the humor in the movie so I won’t let the cat out of the bag.
Both men also struggle with a disease that is still shrouded in ignorance and horror.
The way in which these men are treated lends itself to some great tenderness and some
of the most moving moments in the movie.
As I mentioned the cast is fantastic with some brilliant performances by Meryl Streep,
Emma Thompson and Al Pachino. The best performance by far is from Jeffrey
Wright. Wright is iridescent as the cynical black queen Norman ‘Belize’ Arriaga
who nurses the vile power broker Roy Marcus Cohn (Pachino). His lot is boosted having
some of the best lines but it is mostly his acting ability - which takes your breath
away. This is apparent because he plays three entirely different characters. As Belize
he delivers powerful words with this tired, gravelly voice that sends a shiver down
your spine. As the rather perplexed Mr Lies he struggles to keep control of the dream
he’s meant to be moderating.
My only criticism of this movie is that the dialog is delivered in that clipped, well
punctuated, manner of a play. Initially it is distracting but I got over it. Still,
I never forgot that I was watching the movie of the play.
Angels in America, I’m sure, is meant to be some sort of allegorical commentary on
the US in the late 20th century… I simply don’t know enough about that history to
pick it up. For me the greatest thing about this movie is the way it paints how people
see themselves, how this perception changes over time and the role hope plays in this
transformation.
