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Before Night Falls Customer Reviews (4 - 6 of 25 Reviews)

Before and after Castro!
It is hard to describe this movie because it brings out so many emotions. Without going into the story (you can read that already} let me just say, on the negative side, that it was a little difficult to understand in some parts because of the heavy Cuban accent when the actors were speaking english.
Johnny Depp has a small but VERY memorable part. It was a surprise actually to see him in such a "camp" part. He makes a very pretty girl!
In parts you feel a sense of urgency, you laugh, you are disgusted, and you heave a sigh of relief. It also brings back memories of history when Castro shipped out all the undesirables. [Imagine your homeland having a "moral cleansing" & branding you a pervert or disowning you because of what you are and what you write about without their censorship! So much for Communism!]

You will probably come away a bit sad, but better for it!

Superb Bardem Galvanizes Painterly Look at Reinaldo Arenas
Spanish-born actor Javier Bardem gives a staggering performance as Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, which is lucky since he is in almost every frame of this film. In fact, he is the only constant in a biopic that sometimes feels disjointed and a bit long-winded, piecing together as it does the various episodes of Arenas' life sometimes sacrificing narrative flow in the process. At the same time, this is a powerfully moving film that displays the intensity of the post-revolution persecution experienced by Cubans more effectively than either Carlos Eire's memoir, "Waiting for Snow in Havana", or Hollywood confections such as Sydney Pollack's "Havana" or Richard Lester's "Cuba".

Director Julian Schnabel, an artist himself who had previously directed a film about celebrity graffiti artist Jean Michael Basquiat, jumps back and forth like an abstract painter clarifying time periods by employing captions. We first see Arenas' birth in 1943 rural Cuba followed by glimpses of his poverty-stricken childhood. The story then moves forward to 1958 just before Castro rose to power and when Arenas becomes a revolutionary living in eastern Cuba. By 1964, as both an open gay and an intellectual, Arenas' writings have made him anathema to Castro's regime. For the next fifteen years, he shuttles back and forth between jail and freedom, and Arenas' story sheds much light on the difficult of living as a member of not just one but two minorities. In highly visual terms, Schnabel creates a striking tableau of life in Cuba that shows how getting out of Cuba was not an easy decision for natives to make, and Arenas, like most Cubans, makes it only begrudgingly at first. Imagine having to give up everything and fleeing. There is a vividly filmed sequence of an all-night party in an abandoned convent that houses a homemade hot-air balloon (shades of Jules Verne) by which one of them decides to escape selfishly and fatally. There are also some powerful scenes that show the humiliating torture Arenas experienced in prison ending finally with his escape and ultimately his departure from Cuba in the Mariel Harbor exodus of 1980 as one of Castro's "undesirables". Arenas then went into exile in New York living with his former lover, Lazaro. Sadly, soon after his arrival in America, he became ill with AIDS. The American sequence is short, allowing maximum time for the Cuba ordeal that makes up most of the film.

The charismatic Bardem is superb capturing the emotional combustion in his character's life. There are a few guest appearances that somewhat undermine the story's realism, a nearly unrecognizable turn by Sean Penn as a Cuban peasant and in dual roles, Johnny Depp as a sadistic, closeted lieutenant and a transvestite named Bon Bon, who entertains prisoners in El Moro prison. And the use of English versus Spanish seems to be more at the director's discretion than the actual circumstances within scenes. But these are forgivable indulgences since Schnabel has made a valuable film telling a tale of Cuban struggle and hardship of a type that we surprisingly don't see that often in film. At 133 minutes, it does seem a bit overlong, but Arenas packed a full life in his 47 years. Most importantly, Schnabel successfully paints a picture depicting the influences behind Arenas' writing: his difficult childhood, his conflicted feelings for his mother, coming to terms with his sexuality, the revolution in Cuba, and the pain of being an outcast in his own country. As one might expect from a painter, Schnabel uses images as effectively as words to advance the story. Most are simple and quite beautiful, such as an early scene of a rainstorm that turns into a raging torrent of water, a later shot of countless prison inmates dangling bars of soap outside of their jail cells, or flashes of snow falling in New York as Arenas and his friend lie on a speeding convertible. Nevertheless, because Arenas, as a writer, dealt in words, it is impossible to tell his story without embracing this component, and Bardem's economical voiceovers attest to that aspect in a dramatically effective manner. Strongly recommended in spite of the relatively minor flaws. The DVD also includes an interesting French television interview with the real Arenas from 1983.

Excellent Film
This film is really intriging. For someone who doesn't consider herself a drama fan, this film [...] me in and kept me hooked. The story of this writer really made me think about how art and drive and will to live can help someone overcome the most stacked of odds. It is also a very interesting look into gay politics in that time and place in the world.

As a person studying GLBT studies as a degree, I recommend you view this film. As a human being, I recommend you view this film. Most people see it because of Johnny Depp's performance (as 2 characters) but that fact is very minor, although he does an excellent job. The main actor is astounding and makes you believe what is real, even though it is so unbelievable.

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