This six-hour $60 million HBO miniseries (a screen adaptation of Tony Kushner’s epic stage play) is set in mid-1980s New York and stars Al Pacino as corrupt attorney Roy Cohn, who – in real life – got his start in the 1950s as chief counsel to Senator Joseph McCarthy‘s Communist-hunting subcommittee and who, in the1980s, prospers as a pit bull of a lawyer and a power broker cosy with the Reagan administration.
Even in the service of avowed moral absolutists, Cohn knows what’s what: Might makes right.
His doctor (James Cromwell) has just told him he has AIDS. But he isn’t buying it.
“AIDS is what homosexuals have,” sneers Cohn, who will privately admit to sharing sex with men but insists he cannot be a homosexual since “homosexuals are men who know nobody and who nobody knows – who have zero clout. Does that sound like me?”
“I have liver cancer,” he argues. Case closed.
A drama of outsiders, Angels places Cohn at its core. He’s a homosexual as homophobe, the ultimate insider turning himself inside out.
A fellow tormented figure is Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a rising young law clerk, Cohn’s protégé, and a fan of the Reagan Revolution.
“The truth restored. law restored, that’s what President Reagan’s done,” Pitt declares.
But for Pitt, truth can turn out to be shocking. A Mormon who came from Utah with his disturbed, pill-popping wife, Harper (Mary-Louise Parker), he is forced to confront his homosexuality.
It starts with a chance conversation with Louis Ironson (Ben Shenkman), an overqualified word-processing drone, in the men’s room of the courthouse where they both work.
“Reaganite heartless macho lawyers,” rails Louis, meaning Pitt’s colleagues.
“Well, that’s unfair,” Pitt replies. “I voted for Reagan. Twice.”
“‘Twice?!” Louis chortles. “Well, oh, boy. A gay Republican.”
“Excuse me? I’m not . . . ”
“Republican?” Louis interrupts.
“I’m not gay,” Pitt stammers.
Not so good at handling the truth himself, Louis abandons his lover, Prior (Justin Kirk), who was recently diagnosed with AIDS.
Their drag-queen chum, Belize (Jeffrey Wright), is a nurse who soon will be caring for the doomed, wrathful Cohn – and will steal AZT for Prior from Cohn’s illicit stash (who else but Cohn would have the clout to get this highly restricted, experimental drug?).
Meryl Streep plays Pitt’s mother, Hannah, who arrives from Utah to save his soul. And Emma Thompson is the Angel, a spirit with a habit of bursting through ceilings.
Angels in America is a grand achievement, a set of disparate characters and narratives that interlock powerfully.
The virtuoso cast is spectacular, with several of the actors playing multiple roles (fancy, Streep as a wizened old rabbi). And director Mike Nichols channels the whole rambunctious affair into a sleekly told saga.
Roy Cohn
Al Pacino Joe Pitt
Patrick Wilson Prior Walter
Justin Kirk Louis Ironson
Ben Shenkman Harper Pitt
Mary-Louise Parker Hannah Pitt/Ghost of Ethel Rosenberg/Rabbi/The Angel Australia
Meryl Streep Belize/Mr Lies
Jeffrey Wright Martin Heller
Brian Markinson Nurse Emily/The Angel/Homeless Woman
Emma Thompson Roy’s Doctor
James Cromwell Louis’s Sister
Melissa Wilder Cousin Doris
Fatima Da Silva Louis’ Mother
Florence Kastriner Louis’ Father
Howard Pinhasik
His doctor (James Cromwell) has just told him he has AIDS. But he isn’t buying it.
A fellow tormented figure is Joe Pitt (Patrick Wilson), a rising young law clerk, Cohn’s protégé, and a fan of the Reagan Revolution.
“Reaganite heartless macho lawyers,” rails Louis, meaning Pitt’s colleagues.
The virtuoso cast is spectacular, with several of the actors playing multiple roles (fancy, Streep as a wizened old rabbi). And director Mike Nichols channels the whole rambunctious affair into a sleekly told saga.
Roy Cohn
Belize/Mr Lies
