You won't be disappointed!

Captivating movie !

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

Having read and discussed the script two months ago, it was an eye-opener to see the play performed. Music, sound and visual effects make it come alive. The pace is slow so one can dwell on and think about the characters and themes in more depth. The visual effects are beautiful, though Kushner wanted a more 'rough theatre' – think Brecht, in the stage version – you should be able to see the wires holding up the angels.Roy Cohn played by Al Pacino, was almost too slow. We imagined him to answer the phones more speedily and exhibit more charisma. In the film vision he is less a man of action and more ponderous and clingy.Belize, the male nurse and drag queen appeared to me to be caring but frivolous. The film brings out his intelligent wit.Prior Walker, likewise, comes across as a much deeper person than in the script. He is able to understand, very quickly, what is going on when his doctor updates his prognosis and he comes to terms with it in a sober way and more quickly that Louis.However, we felt that we were not sure what we would have made of it had we not read the script beforehand.

There is much multiplicity in Angels in America, all of which may be difficult to decipher in the worthiness and wordiness of Tony Kushner's Pulitzer winning script. There are political, theological and cultural allusions that are expressed in lengthy dialogs, sermons, monologues etc that you may find hard to allocate to the purpose of the play. What is simpler to understand is the questions about morality, musings about death, isolation and betrayal, problems of identity crisis and the universal feelings of love, compassion, empathy, responsibility, unity and impermanence. You constantly witness characters questioning their beliefs, breaking down, losing their sanity, finding a revelation and then living with hope that they find their true place and purpose in the ever-evolving life. Prior Walter is an openly gay man who's the first in the film to be inflicted by the disease. His Jewish gay partner Louis, who already has a track record of abnegating responsibility, slowly distances himself from his lover despite loving him dearly. Prior accuses Louis of not believing truly in what he preaches, and finds support in his best friend and ex-lover Belize and the hospital nurse. He also begins to experience startlingly realistic hallucinations where he encounters unknown people, ghosts and angels, who proclaim that he is a Prophet who can cure the world's miseries if he wishes. Another man Joe, a Conservative Mormon lawyer begins discovering his second skin when he realizes that his coldness towards his wife stems from his repressed homosexuality, which he had always ignored as it went against his religious beliefs. His wife Harper, as a result of emotional isolation and fears, lives in comfort and friendship of imaginary friends who, akin Prior's hallucinatory encounters, give answers to the questions that remain vague or unanswered in reality. Joe's mother,aptly referred to as 'Mother Pitt' is an ordinary Mormon wife who, although is upset by her son's revelation, finds that her womanhood innately shows the qualities of empathy and compassion to be more flexible towards changes around her. Joe's mentor is Roy Cohn, the famous Conservative Jewish lawyer who strongly shows anti-communist and racist attitudes and ignores moral and ethical issues in doing what he believes is right for US. The contemptible, churlish, unconscionable brute is another victim of AIDS, which he contracted through sexual relations with men; yet Roy does not believe he is a homosexual, terming the tag only for those 'whom nobody knows and who know nobody'. His confrontation with his past sins materializes in the form of the ghost of Ethel Rosenberg, a Jewish woman whom Roy had convicted using undue power for espionage.Distance, death, desertion and isolation are recurring themes in Angels in America. The opening monologue of the rabbi itself is an example of distance: we see Louis and Prior sitting together a few rows behind the other members of their family as the rabbi is sermonizing at Louis' grandmother's funeral about the brave woman's voyage to America. The two gay men are separated from the rest for their homosexuality while the Rabbi expresses his conservative view on religion. There is a haunting image about death some scenes later when Louis broaches the subject of desertion to the rabbi: after the conversation, we see an extremely long shot/view of the almost unending graveyard, with numberless black gravestones. Mike Nichols, the TV movie's director makes his camera float into and away from the subjects, and poetically captures the magic realism of the story. The colors in the film also capture the character's emotion or essence, and sometimes you may see the whole image going startlingly red or brilliantly blue or find a major color dominating the background, like a dull yellow background around Mother Pitt when she arrives home and gets a call about her daughter--law or shades of green on Mother Pitt and Prior during their conversation at the hospital. There is, in short, a lot we get to see, and I haven't come to burning ghosts of Prior's ancestors and his shared dream with Harper yet! Despite the complexities and the multitudinous implications in the play, you are always connected to the humanness of the characters and excellent. Highly engaging performances.Angels in America runs for six hours, but I have no problem seeing it again. There are things I know I've missed, meanings still not fully understood, questions still running in my mind, characters whose brilliance I haven't fully relished. It's really a play written which seems to have be written when the playwright himself was exploring USA, and all his ideas explode into Angels in America. It's well worth your time.Read the unabridged 'Angels In America' sized review at http://sashankkini.wordpress.com/

I have watched this heavy, difficult five hours, and it was worth it. Such brilliant and beautiful words among us, illuminating a strange cultural melange of our country and times.When I see wrestling or the "news" on television, I hope that there are not alien intelligences watching us, and feeling disdain for such pathetic displays. But if there are such, watching and judging, I can only hope that they see things like this, and know that there are brilliant individuals among us. There is beauty and thought, intelligence and light of reason, in this sea of apathetic stupidity and greed.

I don't know where to start to be truthful, maybe the film does have a genius story, and the casting was great (yes, i agree on that), but, somewhere i got lost. I actually don't think i understand the story, i didn't understand what the characters were supposed to act. I was bored since the 10th minute of the film, and its a huge one, a real damned torture to watch it, that i actually couldn't watch the second part. What do you people appreciate at this movie? Cause i only appreciated the actors, but that's not enough to satisfy me. Someone told me this is better then "Band of Brothers", to hell with you ! If you're gay, you are nuts and think that movies about politics are interesting, watch it, otherwise do yourself a favor and stay as far as possible from this piece of trash. I can't believe pacino made part of this garbage !