MovieChat Forums > Angels in America (2003) Discussion > Joe *spoilers*

Joe spoilers

posted 15 years ago by Emree23
2 replies | jump to latest

I saw this movie when it first came on HBO. I guess that was nearly 7 or 8 years ago? I rewatched it for the first time in years today, and I came to the conclusion (that I hadn't before) that Joe had killed himself by 1990.

He was broken, he was really weak to begin with, he was struggling with his personal and moral and sexual identity. His wife left him, and so did Louis. Most telling of all was the very end of the movie when Hanna, Louis, Belize, and Prior are all talking by the fountain. There was something about how different Hanna was and how Joe wasn't there that sort of led me to believe he might have killed himself after when we last saw him say good bye to her by the group of singing people.

[–] Thomasina 15 years ago

I suppose suicide is as plausible as any other outcome for Joe, but the fact is that we really don't have enough information to know what happened to him. The scene he gets with Hannah and the singing choir is more of a summation of his storyline than we get in the play. There were certainly plenty of real-life, closeted, self-hating, ultra-conservative Reganites who survived the 1980s just fine.

[–] childers-3 10 years ago

I re-watched this the other day and I just concluded that he went onto Washington and pursued his career in law/politics.

"Well, make something up!"/RG