A thief while alive, Al Levine (Belafonte) is killed in an auto accident that was innocently caused by Mishkin (Mostel). The other major character, Mrs. Fanny Mishkin (Kaminska), is slowly dying of myocardial edema. That, and the fact that the Mishkins are old and impoverished, is the situation.
Then Levine returns as an angel, on assignment to cure Fanny. The trick is, he can only save her if Mishkin believes in him (the fickle Old Testament god amusing himself, as usual). Unfortunately, Mishkin can't believe, for the obvious reasons: "Levine's meshugga!" and "Send a black angel to a white house?" But also because Mishkin's life has become such hell that he has been praying to die. "It's too late for angels," he cries, "I'll never forgive God for what he's done to me."
It is Fanny who can, and does, believe. The moment she meets the angel Levine, she says, simply, "Have you come to take me away?" Levine replies, "No, I came to give you life." Without a pause, she says, "I didn't want to live. I was in pain for a long time."
The irony is that the only person who believes in the Angel Levine is the one he came to help, and her belief should give him the miraculous power of saving her-- but she doesn't want saving. And so in the end, the message is that we reap what we sow: Fanny, who lived a good life, is allowed to die when she's ready. Levine, who cannot be redeemed from a sinful life as a petty criminal, is dead, an angel with no miracles up his sleeves.
The screenplay is too convoluted, the soundtrack is disquieting, and I wish they'd subtitled the Yiddish dialog between the Mishkins at the end. However, Kadar's direction is sensitive and inventive, and the Manhattan locations bring to life the bleak city of Mayor Lindsay's era. But all the real brilliance in the film is owed to the cast: an impassioned Belafonte and, in a thankless and pointless role as his ex, Gloria Foster (later the Oracle of "The Matrix"), and most especially the great Zero Mostel and even greater Ida Kaminska.
Then Levine returns as an angel, on assignment to cure Fanny. The trick is, he can only save her if Mishkin believes in him (the fickle Old Testament god amusing himself, as usual). Unfortunately, Mishkin can't believe, for the obvious reasons: "Levine's meshugga!" and "Send a black angel to a white house?" But also because Mishkin's life has become such hell that he has been praying to die. "It's too late for angels," he cries, "I'll never forgive God for what he's done to me."
It is Fanny who can, and does, believe. The moment she meets the angel Levine, she says, simply, "Have you come to take me away?" Levine replies, "No, I came to give you life." Without a pause, she says, "I didn't want to live. I was in pain for a long time."
The irony is that the only person who believes in the Angel Levine is the one he came to help, and her belief should give him the miraculous power of saving her-- but she doesn't want saving. And so in the end, the message is that we reap what we sow: Fanny, who lived a good life, is allowed to die when she's ready. Levine, who cannot be redeemed from a sinful life as a petty criminal, is dead, an angel with no miracles up his sleeves.
The screenplay is too convoluted, the soundtrack is disquieting, and I wish they'd subtitled the Yiddish dialog between the Mishkins at the end. However, Kadar's direction is sensitive and inventive, and the Manhattan locations bring to life the bleak city of Mayor Lindsay's era. But all the real brilliance in the film is owed to the cast: an impassioned Belafonte and, in a thankless and pointless role as his ex, Gloria Foster (later the Oracle of "The Matrix"), and most especially the great Zero Mostel and even greater Ida Kaminska.