I try and attend Rose House events that genuinely capture my curiosity and that I want to learn more about. But there are some weeks where I pick an event simply because it’s the only one that fit my schedule. That was the case this week. Anyone who knows me knows the movies I tend to see fall in the action adventure/sci fi/fantasy genre. In the past 5 years, the only three films I can think of that I saw that weren’t in those categories were Hidden Figures, Imitation Game and La La Land. So “Before Night Falls” certainly wouldn’t have been on my “to-watch” list, had it not been the only event I could attend this week. But, I am very glad it was. I had gone into it knowing nothing about this film or the man it was about, and I think that made it even better. I had no idea what to expect, or what was going to happen, so every event that transpired was truly full of suspense and surprise. The two parts in the movie that stood out in my mind were when Reinaldo Arenas is in isolation in prison, and later being interrogated. In both instances, the scene plays out one way, before cutting back to an earlier sequence, and playing out a second way. The first way in both cases was a sort of day-dream sequence, but it flows so smoothly that you think its real and when the scene of reality comes back so abruptly it actually feels like someone just shook you awake from a dream

However , the most interesting part of the movie for me was the historical aspect. Two of the films I mentioned earlier, Imitation Game and Hidden Figures, were so captivating for me because of the dynamic way they portrayed history. “Before Night Falls” is able to display Cuban history from the mid to late 20^th century through one man’s life, and how he experienced this change. This way of telling history really captured my attention and might even inspire me to see more like it. I am extremely happy I saw this film and hope to see more like it.