Angels in America
Starring: Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Justin Kirk and Ben Shenkman
Synopsis: Tony Kushner's classic play of gay life and AIDS was adapted into this HBO miniseries.
Angels is many things at once: a drama about loneliness and family, biological and chosen; a story that shines light on all the dark places in the human heart; an offbeat comedy; a story about sexual / racial / religious / ethnic / political identity; one about life in the Reagan era; about friendship, cowardice, and guilt; a story about living with—and dying from—AIDS. Not just from HIV, but also from the ripples of heartbreak it sends out. The whole thing is a smorgasbord for dramaturges and analytical minds. What's remarkable, though, is that even if you managed to remain ignorant of all of the above interpretations, the story itself, taken at face value, is riveting.
