Aaron Loves Angela (1975) (DVD)
Director: Gordon Parks, Jr.
** Rating
The works of William Shakespeare have always held a special place in my heart. That is if you believe he actually wrote them...however that is another and far more awesome movie altogether. This movie, while inspired by Shakespeare, changes the story in pretty much every way. As the tagline states:
"It's a classic Romeo and Juliet story of forbidden passion, Harlem style, when AARON LOVES ANGELA."
Aaron Loves Angela takes the Westside Story approach to the Romeo and Juliet tale by dividing the tragic couple not by family, but race. Romeo is an African American basketball player Aaron who lives with his once great football player dad (Moses Gunn). Juliet is Angela, who the audience learns very little about other than she lives in Spanish Harlem. Both teens find each other and fall in love in a world where African Americans and Spanish Americans fight each other daily.
The main reason for such a low rating of two stars is the fact that there's almost no conflict whatsoever. Nothing to keep Romeo and Juliet apart. Neither teen lets their parents know about their secret love, even though the many times we see Aaron's father he says nothing about hating any race. The added subplot of a big drug deal by the local "Pimp" Beau (Robert Hooks) is really not needed at all. Beau isn't a likeable character and his final fate really didn't effect me at all. Aaron (Kevin Hooks) is by the better actor, compared to Angela (Irene Cara). Aaron's father (Moses Gunn) is probably the one standout performance of the whole movie.
Overall, there are some reasons to watch this movie, but it is still a great big mess.
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