For those of you who have not heard of Tony Kushner, or of his infamous, Angels in America I cannot advise you more strongly to go and acquaint yourself. Not only is he one of the greatest playwright’s of the Western world but he also has a lot to say about gay rights and represents the marginal in all of his work. Major themes throughout his plays include war, race, class, the AIDS pandemic, genocide and global terrorism. For Kushner, his politics are as much a part of his persona as his plays, a proud Democrat and advocate of the liberalised Left, he is outspoken against Bush and the Republican Party, using his success to speak out against oppression and the handling of Bush’s Administration’s ‘War on Terror’ post 9/11.
The documentary seeks to understand these politics as much as exploring Kushner’s creative process. What makes the film so very more engaging though, is that as well as extensive insights into how Kushner writes and in particular how he came to explore the ideas he writes on in Angels in America, Lee Mock also manages to paint a truly fascinating portrait of a Jewish Gay man standing up for what he believes in. The film uses interviews with Kushner’s family and those he collaborates with to gain further reflection on the life of a man who holds the respect of his contemporaries, adding further sheen to a fantastically well made documentary. Furthermore, the level of access to Kushner means that the audience are left with an insightful picture of the playwright, even allowed audience to his wedding to long time partner Mark.
Important also is that the film documents the three years from 9/11 through to the Presidential Election in 2004. No greater is the focus then on Kushner’s politics, made clearer by the sections of the film at the book launch and debates around the themes of his plays Homebody/Kabul and Only We Who Guard The Mystery. Unlike other documentaries that perhaps deal heavy handedly with the post World Trade Centre attacks, Wrestling With Angels uses the event as a stimulus for further analysis into Kushner; notably the images of the devastating attack are omitted and only the billowing smoke clouds are shown with a voice over from Kushner describing his flight back to New York from Ireland.
Let us not ignore the significance of Kushner as a gay rights activist. One of the main reasons I implore you to watch the purely exceptional Angels in America; adapted from the play into a mini-series by the American network HBO, is that it so excellently documents the AIDS pandemic and explores with stunning emotional resonance issues of faith, religion, sexuality, family, love and life after death. Winning Kushner the Pulitzer prize for Literature and a host of Emmy awards for the mini-series adaptation, never before or since has a story about gay rights and the personal and public struggle with AIDS, been brought to such a wide audience. It is perhaps all too easy for us as liberated gay youths to forget how very different things were only thirty years ago and still are for gay men and women across the globe. This is touched upon in the film where a public debate shows a contemporary of Kushner turning on a College kid and stating, ‘what is it your generation does?’ Although a strong personal opinion he raises an interesting point; although we are liberated, we must not always see this as the end of the debate, there is still perhaps a good fight to be fought.
Wrestling With Angels could easily veer towards becoming an angry biopic on a politically outspoken playwright. However, due to Kushner’s enigmatic wit and ease before the camera as well as the total access to his life, the feature only adds further lustre to a truly great dramatist and liberalised American with interesting things to say about the state of the world. In a speech by Oskar Eustis, a New York director, theatre is linked synonymously with democracy, it is stated that one is quite simply the same as the other as both rely upon empathy. This is so very true; real democracy must be empathetic, just as theatre is dead without real empathy for its characters. Kushner then is a dramatist who garners empathy in the theatre as a stimulus for democratic revolution, once he has won over his paying audience, on Broadway, at the National Theatre in London, or indeed the HBO audience, he stretches his wings above the auditorium and sets his sights for the White House, something that we as gay youths should not only applaud but actively engage in and seek to speak out against tyranny and the death of democratic rights across the globe.
Check out http://www.tonykushnerthemovie.com/ for more information on the film
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