The Angel Levine

Alexander Levine appears to Mishkin because he is a Jewish angel in training who must perform a miracle within 24 hours to earn his official angel status. The film establishes that Levine was the black man who died in the robbery Mishkin witnessed; he returned as a supernatural being tasked with helping a deserving person. Mishkin's desperate situation, his wife's terminal illness, his inability to work, and his curse against God, makes him a candidate for divine intervention.

Mishkin's earlier curse toward God after his wife's condition worsens sets the stage for this supernatural encounter.

When the 24-hour window closes, Alexander Levine leaves the Mishkin home and Fanny's health immediately deteriorates back to her prior critical condition. The brief improvement Levine brought was tied to his presence and the miracle he was attempting to perform. Once he departs without completing the miracle, the healing effect reverses, and Fanny returns to her life-threatening state.

Levine explicitly warns that he must complete the miracle within 24 hours or lose his chance at angel status, making the deadline a central plot mechanism.

The black feather Mishkin finds in the synagogue is left ambiguous by the film. It could be proof that Levine was truly an angel, with the feather serving as a tangible sign of his divine nature. Alternatively, it may represent Mishkin's own psychological need for evidence of faith, or simply the persistent mystery of whether any miracle actually occurred. The feather leaves the question of divine intervention unresolved.

Levine never provides concrete proof of his angelic status, making any physical evidence suspect.

The film deliberately casts Harry Belafonte as a Black Jewish angel, which was unconventional for 1970. This choice appears intentional, having a Black angel help a poor Jewish man in Harlem creates a meaningful intersection of two marginalized communities. It also challenges the viewer to look beyond racial and cultural expectations about who can serve as a divine messenger, reinforcing the film's theme that faith transcends human categories.

The casting sets up the film's exploration of unexpected sources of mercy and the limits of prejudice.

The film deliberately leaves this ambiguous. Fanny's health does visibly improve during Levine's 24-hour presence, which could be interpreted as the miracle Levine was attempting. However, Mishkin remains skeptical throughout, unable to determine whether the improvement came from divine intervention or was simply a fluctuation in her condition. The fact that she reverts to her prior state after Levine leaves suggests the improvement was tied to his supernatural presence, but the film never confirms this definitively.

Mishkin's persistent doubt about whether anything divine is occurring runs throughout his interactions with Levine.

After Levine leaves and Fanny's condition worsens again, Mishkin experiences a transformation. Rather than accepting despair, he rushes into the Harlem streets determined to find Levine and demand the mercy he briefly experienced. This search represents Mishkin's leap of faith, he chooses to pursue the possibility of divine help rather than surrender to his circumstances. It marks a shift from cursing God to actively seeking a relationship with the divine.

Earlier, Mishkin curses the Lord in frustration; the search shows his attitude has changed from defiance to desperate hope.

The robbery is somewhat random, a Black man steals a fur coat from someone on the street. When Mishkin yells for help, the thief tries to flee and is tragically killed by a passing car. This event is significant because it brings the dead thief back into Mishkin's life as Alexander Levine, the angel. The robbery serves as the catalyst for the entire supernatural encounter.

The stolen fur coat and the thief's death set up the mysterious return of this man as a supernatural figure.

Mishkin curses God in a moment of extreme frustration and despair. He has exhausted his savings, his wife Fanny's heart disease is worsening, his back prevents him from working, his daughter has run away, and welfare relief is stuck in bureaucratic limbo. When he returns home to find his wife even sicker, he vents his rage at a God who seems indifferent to his suffering. This act of defiance creates the spiritual tension that makes the subsequent appearance of an angel meaningful.

The curse establishes Mishkin's spiritual state, bitter and questioning, before Levine arrives.

Levine states he must perform a miracle within 24 hours to earn his official status as an angel. While he doesn't specify exactly what the miracle should be, the film suggests it was meant to be Fanny's complete healing, her heart disease disappearing entirely. Instead, Fanny only experiences a temporary improvement during Levine's presence, and when his time expires, she reverts to her critical condition. The incomplete miracle suggests Levine failed his test.

Levine explicitly counts down the hours and explains the stakes of his mission.

The film never confirms whether Levine is objectively real or a psychological projection. He appears only to Mishkin, performs actions that could have natural explanations, and leaves no concrete evidence of his divine nature except the ambiguous black feather. The ambiguity is central to the film's themes about faith, it asks whether belief in the divine is justified even without proof, and whether the search for meaning itself has value.

Mishkin's skepticism about Levine's identity runs throughout, and the ending provides no definitive answer.