Angels in America

HBO has long had an edge over broadcast television because it has free range to broadcast programs of a taboo nature. At its most repugnant this has been used merely as a conduit for peddling soft-core pornography. But at its finest it has dealt with pressing material too incendiary for advertisement-sponsored networks. In 1993, HBO produced the brilliant, star-studded And the Band Played On, a docudrama based on a book of the same name chronicling the AIDS outbreak in the late 80s. Ten years later, HBO returned to similar territory with the six-hour miniseries, Angels in America. Based on a play by the inimitable Tony Kushner and directed by veteran filmmaker Mike Nichols, the film is an unflinching tragicomic look at the uncontrollable brutality of AIDS in the mid-80s.

Nichols has assembled a grand team of talented actors to bring Kushner's poetically verbose script to life. Al Pacino stars as Roy Cohn, a mordant, high-powered lawyer who also happens to be a closeted homosexual. Roy has recently contracted AIDS but he orders his Doctor (James Cromwell) to tell people that it's liver cancer so that he won't lose face in front of his peers. At the same time, he tries to convince his protégé Joe (Patrick Wilson) to move to Washington to try and exculpate Roy from his potential disbarment.

Joe is willing to move but his Valium-addicted wife Harper (Mary-Louise Parker) is not eager to leave New York City. Not that she's happy about her current situation either. Joe, a Mormon, is slowly coming to terms with the realization he is a homosexual. He leaves Harper alone for long hours, free to roam about in her hallucinations that include imaginary trips to Antarctica. Meanwhile, Joe begins his first homosexual relationship with Louis (Ben Shenkman), a self-centered word processor who works at his firm. Louis is a victim of his irrepressible cowardice, having just run out on his long-term boyfriend Prior (Justin Kirk) after he is hospitalized with AIDS. Rounding out the principle cast is Meryl Streep as Joe's uptight Mother, Emma Thompson as Prior's nurse and Jeffrey Wright as his best friend "” who gives the best performance of them all, sashaying his way on screen and elevating every performance around him through osmosis. Not even Pacino can upstage him. Some of these characters are invariably visited by apparitions whom which the title "” if not necessarily the filmic content "” indicates are angels.

One of the most interesting things about Angels in America is the way it plays with the issue of identity. Most of the cast members perform double duty, and in some cases even triple duty, playing various roles throughout the story. It's left unclear whether they are playing different characters or manifestations of a single character. Most provocative is Kirk's duality as a Leather-clad prostitute and how he interacts with Louis'

character. The only one that doesn't fit is Streep's initial appearance, which serves more for a lark than for thematic importance.

Nichols' career, which includes such varied work as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Birdcage, proves that he has plenty of experience navigating the waters that flow between comedy and tragedy. He's also no stranger to the stage, having directed the original Broadway runs of The Odd Couple and Spamalot. His pedigree makes him a logical choice to transfer Kushner's play onto film and he does a fantastic job of distancing the two mediums. He uses elements like location, transition shots, non-diegetic inserts and camera movements in ways that transcend the stage. There's even a healthy amount of zooms, probably the most Nichols has used since The Graduate, back when the technique was fashionable.

The one problem with Angels in America is the transition between sentiment and dark humor. On the whole, it's better at being heart-wrenching than it is at being humorous. It's incredibly frightening to watch Prior writhing on the floor gasping for life whereas it's occasionally degrading to watch him traipsing around the city in a black, hooded outfit as a deluded prophet. Kirk, who excels so fearlessly as an AIDS patient, has a comedic delivery that is a bit too amplified in regard to the weight of the material. More effective is Mary-Louise Parker with her dry, disaffected cynicism that threatens to steal the show on several occasions. There are also a few too many instances of exaggerated whimsy for my taste. A blatantly computer-enhanced shot of a Hebrew Text jutting through a Hospital floor proves especially distracting. But I suppose when you're dealing with the scariest disease known to mankind you have to relieve the tension in some way. More so, the real miracle of the film is that it manages to get away with its Public Service Announcement-style ending. Tonal quibbles aside; the subject material is of the utmost importance and Angels in America should be required viewing for teenagers around the world to help them further comprehend the devastating plague that is AIDS.

Movie Grade: B+
DVD Grade: N/A
Overall Grade: B+