Angels in America (2003– )

Playwright Tony Kushner adapts his political epic about the AIDS crisis during the mid-eighties, around a group of separate but connected individuals.

Stars:

Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson

Won 5 Golden Globes. Another 34 wins & 27 nominations.

Cast

Complete series cast summary:
Al Pacino	...	Roy Cohn (2 episodes, 2003)
Meryl Streep	...	Ethel Rosenberg (2 episodes, 2003)
Emma Thompson	...	Nurse Emily (2 episodes, 2003)
Mary-Louise Parker	...	Harper Pitt (2 episodes, 2003)
Jeffrey Wright	...	Belize (2 episodes, 2003)
Justin Kirk	...	Prior Walter (2 episodes, 2003)
Ben Shenkman	...	Louis Ironson (2 episodes, 2003)
Patrick Wilson	...	Joe Pitt (2 episodes, 2003)
James Cromwell	...	Roy's Doctor (2 episodes, 2003)

Storyline

God has abandoned Heaven. It's 1985: the Reagans are in the White House and Death swings the scythe of AIDS. In Manhattan, Prior Walter tells Lou, his lover of four years, he's ill; Lou bolts. As disease and loneliness ravage Prior, guilt invades Lou. Joe Pitt, an attorney who is Mormon and Republican, is pushed by right-wing fixer Roy Cohn toward a job at the Justice Department. Both Pitt and Cohn are in the closet: Pitt out of shame and religious turmoil, Cohn to preserve his power and access. Pitt's wife Harper is strung out on Valium, aching to escape a sexless marriage. An angel invites Prior to be a prophet in death. Pitt's mother and Belize, a close friend, help Prior choose.

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Plot Keywords:

death | aids | religious | marriage | closet | 

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Taglines:

The messenger has arrived.

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Genres:

Drama | Fantasy

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Certificate:

TV-MA

Details

Official Sites:

HBO

Country:

USA Italy

Language:

English Hebrew Aramaic Yiddish French

Release Date:

7 December 2003 (USA)

Also Known As:

Ameerika inglid

Filming Locations:

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$60,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Avenue Pictures Productions, HBO Films, Panorama Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

352 min 352 min (6 parts)

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The Central Park fountain that is prominently featured in Kushner's play and its film adaptation is officially titled "The Angel of the Waters" and familiarly known as "The Bethesda Fountain." It was installed in 1873 and sculpted by artist Emma Stebbins (1815-1882), who was the first woman to be commissioned to create a sculpture for the City of New York. Stebbins was also the sister of the president of the Central Park Board of Commissioners, and the longtime romantic partner of world-famous actress Charlotte Saunders Cushman. In 2011, Lapham's Quarterly Magazine reported that while sculpting the statue, Stebbins used Cushman as the model for the angel's body.

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Goofs

The movie takes place in 1985, yet the funeral in Perestroika shows a drag queen dressed as a Barbra Streisand circa 1993.

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Quotes

The Angel: You can't outrun your occupation, Jonah. Hiding from me one place, you'll find me in another. I-I-I-I stop down the road waiting for you. You know me, prophet. You're a battered heart bleeding life in the universe of wounds. Vessel of the book now, on you, in you, in your blood we write, have written, stasis. The end.

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Crazy Credits

Person Generally in Charge of Everything Aaron Geller

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Connections

References Come Back, Little Sheba (1952)

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Soundtracks

"Shall We Gather At The River?"
(hymn written in 1864)
Music and Lyrics by Robert Lowry (1826-1899)
Performed by Meryl Streep and choir

User Reviews

A Triumph In Every Way

Set in 1980s New York and subtitled "A Gay Fantasia on National Themes," the six-hour ANGELS IN America concerns a group of largely gay men who find themselves caught up in series of disasters that range from love to religion and from politics to philosophy--and most specifically caught between the rising tide of AIDS and a generally unsympathetic society.

In the midst of this, AIDS patient Prior Walter begins to have a series of visions, which may be fever dreams, medicine-induced hallucinations... or, most unnerving of all, real. His long dead ancestors rise to speak to him, the floor cracks open to reveal a burning book--and at the conclusion of the play's first half a beautiful woman with majestic wings crashes through his roof. She is the Angel of America. He is, she tells him, a prophet, and she has come to bring him a message for mankind.

Intertwined with Prior's other-earthly experiences are oddly parallel lives. Joe and Harper Pitt are a deeply dysfunctional couple doubting their faith in the Mormon Church, Joe a closeted homosexual, Harper a Valium-addicted and mildly psychotic woman given to visions as strange as those of Prior Walter's. And as further counterpoint historical figure Roy Cohn (1927-1986), among the most sinister figures of 20th Century America, finds himself taunted by the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg as he drifts toward his own AIDS-induced death. The characters swirl in and out of each other's lives and dreams, playing to stereotypes and yet defying them, arguing politics and philosophy and love and death--and it is fascinating stuff.

Although the play stunned 1990s audiences, most considered it utterly unfilmable due to both length and content. But this HBO-produced, Mike Nichols-directed version not only captures the power of the original, in some ways it improves upon it. Playwright Tony Kushner has adapted his work to the screen, rearranging certain problematic scenes and bits of dialogue to better effect, and certainly no one could argue with the cast, which is absolutely stunning in a series of multiple roles.

With a mad swirl of irony, intense drama, outrageous humor, and unexpected twists and turns, ANGELS IN America is almost sure to hold your attention--particularly if you recall the Ronald Reagan years well enough to recognize the truly bitter allegory the film offers on what many consider his largely absentee second term. Truly a must have, multi-layered, bearing repeated viewings, beautifully directed, performed, and filmed.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer