This film is based on the autobiographical novel Before Night Fall written by Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas. Reinaldo was born in Oriente, Cuba, in 1943, he grew up in extreme poverty being raised by his single mother and grandparents. As a child his school teacher noticed already his talent as a poet, but when she told his mother and grandparents, the grandfather rejected strongly the idea and moved the family to Holguín. Reinaldo left his family very early on as an adolescent to join the communist revels lead by Fidel Castro. However, when the rebels took over the government of Batista, Castro imposed an extremely oppressive communist regime. The communists persecuted many innocent people including artists, among them, Reinaldo since he was a novelist and a poet and the regime was scared that he would expose their numerous abuses. Moreover, the communists also persecuted homosexuals, and Reinaldo was openly one. When Reinaldo was living in Havana, he won an honorary mention for his first written work and one of the jurors offered him the option to publish it as his first novel. Reinaldo was arrested shortly after, being falsely accused to have molested some minors. When he was imprisoned he continued writing from prison and was able to continue publishing his novels by sending them abroad with friends or acquaints. He tried escaping from prison but was recaptured, until he finally escaped from Cuba with his friend Lázaro in 1980. The two friends settled in New York city where Reinaldo continued writing while his friend worked as a bell man. Reinaldo died in 1990 from aids, dying with the assistance of Lázaro who had promised him not to let him die at a hospital. Three years later in 1993, Rodolfo’s novel Before Night Fall was published. His autobiographical novel describes his infancy in rural Cuba, how he first embraced as an adolescent the revolution, but like many others felt betrayed by the extreme repression of the communist regime and tried desperately to escape their many abuses until his exile to the US where he continued writing until his death. Arena’s novel addresses the author’s tireless search for freedom when he is unfairly suppressed as a writer by the communist regime. Sadly, this type of persecution is still common to this day in many authoritarian regimes around the world.