Events
Mike Nichols
miniserial / USA, Kanada / 2003
Legendary miniseries directed by Mike Nichols, featuring superb performances by among others Al Pacino, Meryl Streep, Emma Thompson, Mary-Louise Parker, Jeffrey Wright; winner of Golden Globes and Emmy Awards in a number of categories. Based on a brilliant, cutting-edge drama by Tony Kushner, published in 1991 and subsequently awarded the Pulitzer Prize. “Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes” is a story of a few New York homosexuals who are affected by the AIDS pandemic in the mid-1980s, when medical knowledge regarding the dissemination of the disease was still limited and when the disease itself became a reason for stigmatising the entire homosexual part of the society. However, “Angels in America” is also an engaging and engrossing critique of the founding myths of the New World and, in particular, of America itself: starting from fabled democracy and equality to “the fight against communism” in the 1950s (one of the series’ key character is Roy Cohn, the antihero of Joseph McCarthy’s committee responsible for the “commie” hunt in the USA) to the legends of the pioneers. If “Angels in America” were a book, it would simply be unputdownable. As a series, it does not allow its viewers to stop watching it. A fascinating narrative told with stunning camp-like theatricality. A genuine masterpiece that 11 years ago changed forever the way we think about TV series.