The HBO "Angels in America" cut out Prior's last line - "Very Steven Spielberg." And I am not happy. Here's the clip, which I actually do like a lot, which is a great entrance, which is tragically missing one of the quirkiest lines in the play.
Cool, huh? Prior's defiance before the Angel starts to show up is great, and the havoc they wreak with the room is hilarious and terrifying, and the Angel is wild, and the effects are fun, and...
Well, it's very Steven Spielberg. Except NOT, because that LINE is missing.
As are the strings, the mechanics, which Kushner specifically states that he wants shown. I love the Angel floating in midair, but why exactly couldn't they show the cables keeping her there? The CGI lights are really neat, but isn't Emma Thompson imposing enough on her own?
And WHAT (seriously) is with the music? That's actually what irks me the most. I don't want a rousing hallelujah when the Angel appears. I want to be thrilled and freaked out and completely at a loss as to what this means. Prior's terrified, and if we're not with him, then we're not getting something. And I would argue that the music in fact takes us away from him. It comforts us, it lets us know that there's a reason, a plan, no need to be afraid.
But we SHOULD be afraid! We should be trembling, we should be fascinated, we should be curious and scared out of our skins. I'm not. I'm very impressed with the effects and the angles and the two actors, but I'm not THERE, and I'm not scared.
How about this, instead?
Now that freaks me out. In a truly awesome, truly stage-y way. Prior's backing up into us - physically, he's oriented to be in an audience's world. The Angel is there all right, but you can't see her clearly through the fog, so she's this inexplicable being dominating the whole stage without letting us see her or "get" her. There are the lights, there's the wire. Even Prior's bed looks like some interestingly-painted acting blocks. This is a play. No effects, all mechanics. I like this a lot better.
And what am I getting at exactly with this purist "show the strings" insistence? Well, here's Harper's Antarctica monologue. It looks to me like an actress and her friend got together and filmed this. Except she's very good, and because I'm assuming there was no budget to speak of, they can't help but show the strings. And it works really, really well.
The T-shirt, the bare feet, the empty walls, the light socket in the corner, the tiny clicking sounds as the camera shifts position - those are the strings here. You can't hide them, and they very wisely didn't even try. Instead they let the play speak for itself. They concentrated on the words, on the acting, on what was being said and felt. No effects. Just the play. And I think it comes off well. I think this play is one that really rewards time spent on the play proper. There's so much going on, and if it can come across so well in six and a half minutes of well-prepped home video...why do we need the effects?
Honestly, I don't think we do.
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