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| A still from Angels in America |
Sometime around Oscar season this year,
I became aware of the existence of a man who goes by the name Tony Kushner. His
name kept popping up every time they mentioned Lincoln, the biopic directed by Steven Spielberg. Kushner was the
screenwriter for that film, having previously written Spielberg’s Munich. While I hold the latter film in
high regard, I am yet to watch Lincoln. After
the Oscars, Kushner’s name was relegated
to the boondocks of my memory. Until of course, I encountered his legend all
over again.
This time, it was during an impromptu screening
of the TV show Inside the Actor’s Studio.
The host of the show James Lipton had formally introduced the cast and creative
team behind my all time favourite sitcom Will
and Grace, and had just begun interviewing Debra Messing, who plays Grace
in the series. As Debra recalled her advent into theater and the arts, she dropped
Kushner’s name. No doubt, there was something phenomenally important Kushner
had contributed to the growth of Debra and artists like her.
I knew my fate was sealed as it wouldn’t
be long before I’d set out on yet another artistic manhunt, in search of the definitive
work(s) that edified Tony Kushner. On a whim, I happened to look for the grand finale
of Six Feet Under (SFU) on YouTube. Just so you know - SFU was one of my favorites in the
category of Drama. I fondly remembered its opening theme composed by Thomas
Newman, who I had revered since the time of The
Shawshank Redemption and American
Beauty. Here’s the link to that episode of SFU:
Having choked up on the episode that
depicts the end of everyone and everything on SFU, I chanced upon Thomas Newman’s exhaustive repertoire. I realized he had also scored the soundtrack to a critically acclaimed TV show called Angels in America, which was an
adaptation of a Tony Kushner play that went by the same name. Well, there wasn't much to it, the next thing I knew I was hooked on to the six-hour-long cinematic
magnum opus – Angels in America (AIA) – written by Tony Kushner and directed
by Mike Nichols.
The HBO production of AIA is considered to be one of the most
successful made-for-cable movies of all time, led by a stellar ensemble of
actors comprising Meryl Streep, Al Pacino, Emma Thompson, Mary Louise Parker,
Jeffrey Wright, Patrick Wilson and James Cromwell among others. The story is
set in New York, 1985, in the backdrop of the Reagan administration and the
outbreak of AIDS. Chronicling the lives of homosexual men, both in the closet
and out of it, and the lives of those around them, getting by in a time of nagging
socio-political upheavals, Angels…
makes for an immensely compelling and rewarding movie-going experience.
I will go out on a limb to vouch for the
quality of writing in this film, which elevates the material into the realm of an
all-time American classic. Kushner, a gay man himself, conveys the pathos of
rejection, the fear of impending death, the subjugation of justice and
morality, the ambiguity of political persecution and the life-affirming power
of love and forgiveness in this epic tale that unmasks humanity in all its dehumanizing and humanizing aspects.
I haven’t had the good fortune of witnessing
AIA as a stage play, when it ran to
packed theaters in America. But thanks to Mike Nichols, a wizard no less, who is
in splendid form, post his success with The
Birdcage, I am lucky enough to be able to see this great work of art on
film. As it’s become the standard with me, I won’t divulge anything about the
plot. If I have taken the trouble to pen these words about a seminal work of art,
it might as well be worth your time.
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