This past Friday the movie Before Night Falls was screened, a biographical drama about the Cuban poet, novelist, and playwright Reinaldo Arenas. The film follows Reinaldo Arenas from the time he is a child to the end of his life at the end of the movie, and depicts the hardships and struggles he faced as both a homosexual man and a great writer in post-revolutionary Cuba. Reinaldo is first shown as being sympathetic to revolution, going to college to study agriculture, but eventually switched to studying literature. It was at this time he began to get recognized for his work, and won a few awards for his writing in college. He began to explore his sexuality during his time in college and after, being openly gay as he began to gain more prominence as a writer being openly gay left him at odds with the Cuban government and was eventually arrested for “ideological deviation” and publishing work in a foreign country without the government’s consent. The rest of the film deals with his conflict with the Cuban government, and eventually leads him to the United States by the Mariel Boatlift. Shortly after he is diagnosed with AIDS and dies next to his close friend Lazaro.
The film has many themes, but the one that I wish to focus on is the theme of perseverance and his dedication to his work. Reinaldo after falling out of favor with the Cuban government goes to great lengths to get his work published as it is no longer an option to publish it in Cuba given his status. He publishes his work in foreign countries, having friends smuggle his manuscripts out of Cuba, knowing that he could be imprisoned for it. Even when in prison he wrote letters for the serial killers and enemies of the state he was with in the prison, gaining enough paper by doing this to write a manuscript, but his manuscript was discovered destroyed and he was again severely punished. Perhaps an even more outstanding feat than the last, he goes to the United Sates continues to write, speaking out against the Cuban Government, after being diagnosed with AIDS and with his health rapidly deteriorating. This movie does Reinaldo’s life justice by showing how dedicated he was to his work and his ideals, with there being even more examples of his incredible perseverance and utmost character.
I wonder if there’s a distinction between something that is first nature and something that requires perseverance. My first thought is that Reinaldo was a natural writer and writing was an outlet for him, it was like playing “playing the piano” when he typed on the keyboard. So even when he was in jail, he wrote because he had to. It was a necessary component of his identity. This is surely distinct from perseverance. Or is it? Perhaps they are one in the same. He is not really trying and failing at getting things published abroad, his work is accepted and acclaimed abroad. So I’m struggling to connect this with the perseverance of say Edison as he was inventing the lightbulb. Edison could have easily given up trying to invent the lightbulb because inventing lightbulbs is not part of his nature…he can easily give up inventing lightbulbs, but he persevered. Reinaldo is different then this because I don’t think he could have given up writing and still go on living. Perhaps this is perseverance in a different sense?