This film was an interesting one. It was hard to stay awake for the most part not because it was a bad movie, but because I was extremely sleep deprived. In a very very short sentence, the movie is about a prison man who identifies as homosexual and has to deal with living in Castro’s Cuba. The whole movie reminded me about the discrimination against transgender people in India. Transgender kids are abandoned by their families early on in their lives and they kind of group together at train stations and live in homeless packs around the country. They make money by begging in trains. The whole situation is very upsetting a lot of high profile films/artwork have been made to bring awareness to this serious issue. One great thing that the government does is it gives them opportunities in high position offices. So the issue is very sticky because these groups get so discriminated against, they use their “bad luckness” as a means of getting money. People in India are quick to give them whatever amount they ask out of fear of being cursed. It’s true– it happened right in front of me when my grandpa gave 100 rupees to her. They also go to weddings and celebrations and threaten to curse the place. These transactions are more high range where they demand thousands of rupees.

I like America where people who are transgender are assimilated in society, but also have support groups and their own communities. I watched the broadway show, Kinky Boots a couple months ago and I absolutely loved it! The entire cast was transgender and open about it which I truly loved. There is a ways to go in India for something like that to happen, but hopefully the country will make progress through as these art forms help build awareness of the seriousness of the issue.

Here’s a link to a political movement where the Indian government was challenged to raise awareness.

https://www.hrw.org/news/2017/07/25/making-transgender-rights-reality-india

I found Before Night Falls to be an artistic movie that was limited in perspective. Scenes such as the one in the prison where the inmates ask Arenas to write their letters were wonderfully crafted–showing the passage of time and the power of beauty in a dark place. But the majority of the movie portrays Arenas as a talented writer who is persecuted for his work and his sexuality. Though these things are true, there are many facets to Arenas that are not shown in the movie.

Arenas actually started off as a sympathizer for Castro is the revolution. Before Night Falls shies away from this paradoxical fact, and chooses to portray Arenas as totally against the Cuban government. This complexity would have been interesting to see in the movie. Additionally, in the movie, Arenas dies by choice with Lazaro’s choice, while in real life, Arenas dies from drug overdose. I don’t understand why the movie couldn’t accurately portray his death. Are they avoiding any possible negative portrayal of Arenas? I would have liked Arenas to be developed into a more complicated character than the persecuted, brilliant, good man that he was.

I also found the movie to be unnecessarily sexual at times. When Lieutenant Victor holds a gun to Arenas’ face, you’d think he’d be reflecting on his life or thinking about what he’s leaving behind. Instead, he’s having a sexual fantasy involving Lt. Victor placing a gun in his mouth to simulate oral sex. I think the oversexualization of Arenas takes away from his character’s overall development.

Last Friday, I came into this event knowing little or nothing about the story or man behind Before Night Falls. As an individual who doesn’t typically watch biopics, watching Before Night Falls was definitely a different experience. One of the aspects of the film I admired most was the narrative style, which was captivating. The film’s director, Julien Schnabel, displays both the virtues and vices of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas’s literary circle, and is able to carefully depict both the internal and external struggles Arenas faces in both coming to terms with his homosexuality and finding ways to openly live as a homosexual in Cuba. The plot itself isn’t what I found fascinating, but rather the way Schnabel was able to present these themes through his imagery-dense imagination and Arenas’s words. A second aspect of the film I found admirable was the acting of Javier Bardem. Through the coming-of-age storyline the film presents, Bardem does a fantastic job portraying the right emotions at the right time — be it the times of loneliness and pain or the times of maturity, strength, and defiance. As many critiques of the film have said, Bardem’s acting — an award winning “breakthrough” performance – definitely does justice to Reinaldo Arenas’s life story. A third aspect of the film that I found truly appreciated was the way that the film felt honest. Schnabel was not afraid to make the viewer feel uncomfortable or unsettled at times. This allowed certain scenes to carry their weight and allow readers to leave the film carrying an accurate perspective of Reinaldo Arenas’s story. I really recommend for people who haven’t watched the film to give it a chance!

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.

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.

Last Friday I attended Rose House’s showing of the film Before Night Falls. This was a movie I had heard a lot about before having seen it, and was greatly looking forward to it. Despite all the build-up, however, it absolutely met and exceeded all of my expectations. When watching this movie, I think it’s important to come at it with the mindset that this story (while likely dramatized to some extent) is real. It’s not supposed to be clean, it’s not supposed to be concise, there is not supposed to be closure. It’s the biography of a man who went through hell and then some, yet still managed to overcome it all in order to get his story out there.

Perhaps my favorite part about this film is just how many different perspectives it provides. It encompasses the perspective of a Cuban during the time when its borders were closed; it encompasses the perspective of a gay man during the 20th century; it encompasses the perspective of a stateless immigrant lost in the jungle that is New York City. I think it’s incredibly important to hear and learn from these perspectives. As someone who has been given a lot of opportunities in life, at times it can be difficult to keep in mind just how far that privilege has taken me. Seeing Reinaldo Arenas suffer through years in prison—especially having done nothing wrong to deserve it in the first place—yet still remain his passion for poetry and writing was incredibly empowering. I cannot begin to imagine moral strength that must have taken, and it is something I can only hope to emulate in my own life someday. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who has yet to see it.

When I read that Julian Schnabel’s “Before Night Falls” is about Reinaldo Arenas, a homosexual Cuban poet who struggled under Castro’s revolutionary government, I had expected something very political. I had expected to see more of an ideological war between those who were with Castro and those who were not. But what I saw was an almost dreamlike take on the life of a man who just wanted to express his ideas and thoughts no matter who came across them. Arenas found the gift of poetry as a child, when one of his teachers in school noticed his talent and imagination. But to his grandfather and the rest of society, what Arenas had was not a gift but a shame. But that didn’t stop Arenas. He didn’t care for his writing instrument – he would even carve his words onto the bark of a tree if that’s what it took for him to be able to exercise his passion. This early battle between Arenas’s passions and the voice of society continued into the Cuban Revolution. To Castro’s government Arenas was an enemy not only because he was homosexual but also because of his ideological threats as a writer, so Arenas lay in prison. I found the prison scenes interesting because they reminded me of Martin Luther King Jr.’s time in prison. Even in prison, Arenas wrote and wrote for both the public and his fellow inmates. Just as prison did not deter Dr. King, it certainly did not deter Arenas. Of course, unfortunately, to see Arenas escape from the oppressive Cuban government to New York and wind up with AIDS was tragic to watch. I thought after bearing all the opposition and torture back home that Arenas would no longer suffer. But if he had listened to his grandfather and left his artistic and intellectual potential in the dust, never to show them to the world, wouldn’t he have suffered even more? I think so. Amid quite a bit of hate, he managed to be himself and no one else.

Personally, there was little about this movie that I could relate to. Yet there was one interesting message that stood out to me amidst all the partying and rule-breaking that dominated the plot of the movie. That message was that art in all of its forms is largely inspired by oppression. The entire introduction, if not more, of this movie was based on part of a novel that Reinaldo Arenas was in “in the process of writing” later in the movie for a literary contest. It was about leaving his family and the oppression he felt at their home because of his poetic inclinations and sexual orientation. Subsequently, he was able to publish other books through his struggles and troubles in Cuba, but all under oppressive circumstances (such as being imprisoned). The second he was able to get away to America, however, he was unable to publish any books of his own writing. I think this was the reason he stole his roommate’s book and decided to edit and publish under his own name. Whether that actually happened or not, and if his lack of publishing in this stage of his life was due to some onset illness, was very unclear to me. Yet it seemed extremely possible given my experiences with famous or relatable works. Many of the classic novels that we read in school are a direct result of some political movement from the time it was published. Even the paintings on the walls of the art district I visited recently in Miami were primarily devoted to depictions of artistic interpretations about the current political climate of this nation. Maybe art, whether poetry or paintings, is a way of coping with what we believe is wrongdoing in society that we cannot directly oppose or maybe it’s just a coincidence.

Following the screening of “Before Night Falls” Friday night, I had mixed feelings about the film. The portrayal of homosexuals and the gay community was refreshing and surprising in its accuracy. I appreciated the political and social issues the movie tackled, however, I feel that perhaps it was a bit overwhelming for the film. Multiple times throughout the film I found myself googling different political and cultural aspects of the film so I could keep up with it. On top of this, the film portrayed symbolisms reminiscent of the idea that artists are a political movement’s greatest enemy. Overall, I really appreciated this beautifully made film.

I think it was really refreshing for the movie picked to be about an openly gay Cuban man. A, I think there is not a lot of portrayal of the LGBTQ community in movies, especially starring a gay Hispanic man.  I am glad us scholars could really see a movie about someone who was harmed in Cuba during the 1940s.

Arenas was an outstanding poet and everyone knew it, especially his teachers. He wanted to be part of the revolution for Castro but found himself in a tyrant community and used his amazing writing skills to criticize the government. He was then hounded by officials because he was gay and a critic but told the public it was because he had molested some girls. Arenas died from AIDs far away from Cuba and I found that really sad. He must have felt so good to leave the place that tortured him for being who he was but also sad that his birthing place did not want him. It pains me that so many places are like that, in where the government is allowed to torture and imprison for sexual preference. I hope this movie has really changed the way people treat others because Arenas did not deserve the treatment he received from his country.

Despite what might perhaps be my higher reasoning, I enjoyed Before Night Falls. As I reflect on the film, I both recognize that it has a plethora of flaws affecting its plot, yet appreciate the overall tonal structure even more. I shall discuss the negatives first. As some of my fellow scholars have already pointed out, the film suffers by attempting with perhaps too much gusto to take on a surrealist tone. Plot elements are left intentionally quite vague, to an almost absurd degree, and this leads to difficulty following the story of Rey through his time in Cuba particularly. I think an excellent example of this hurting the movie comes after he is let out of prison. He immediately seems to fall back into a similar life to where he was before. Wasn’t he just asked to write for the revolutionary party? Isn’t he now under great threat from the state? The movie is definitely critical of Castro and his communists – so it seems unlikely that the similarity of his life before and after being accused of sexual assault and prison is meant to claim that the negatives of the party are exaggerated. Something feels missing, almost blatantly so, and this detracts from the messages of the film.

That being said, the scenes within the prison were incredibly captivating, and for the exact same reason I found the scenes bookending the prison frustrating. It doesn’t start directionless. Rey is motivated to write letters for his fellow inmates, and starts building up what (he describes) to be a mini empire around his writing prowess. He writes a new novel – and even seems to be about to effectively smuggle it out, but then it all comes crashing down. He is put in the claustrophobic box, and the most fantastic sequence of the movie begins. At multiple points through the next 15 minutes of the movie, scenes will start building from the previous scenes end. They follow a logical sequence, and have narrative moving them forward. Then, without any cue at all (particularly no auditory cue) the scene abruptly shifts backwards. The audience is left to conclude that whatever we were just shown must have been a hallucination, or an imagining of Rey. Events proceeding now directly contradict what we just saw. We return back to the claustrophobic box, even though Rey was just let out of in the previous scene. The disorientation of the situation is palpable and effective, and significantly captures Rey’s own disorientation throughout the latter half of his stay in prison. It’s hopelessness was so powerful, that even once Rey was legitimately let out of prison, I was worried for a good while that at any point it might without warning cut back to the claustrophobic box. It all felt so potentially illusory after the prison sequence (particularly after his interrogation by Lt. Victor). To answer the question in the title of this post – I think it is here that “night falls” for Rey. It is here that the hopelessness is at its peak.

All in all, I had mixed feelings about the film. The portrayal of homosexuals was refreshingly frank and straightforward, though I think overall the film bit off a bit more than it could chew, so to speak. The film had a lot of political points and social points it wanted to make. On top of this, it also wanted to maintain a deeply surreal tone and actively fought against a more regular narrative structure. One could argue that, in having both of these goals, the movie attempted to both have its cake and eat it to. And I would not be inclined to disagree. Though truly my final conception of the film is positive. There are multiple moments where the film, to my eye, truly shines (too many to list here), and when the film shines, it shines intensely.

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.

Wow, I can’t believe that I hadn’t seen that film before. It really shines a light on how hard it is to be part of the LGBTQ+ community as a Cuban citizen. Throughout the film, we learn of the tough life Reinaldo Arenas had. What really inspired me was that even though Arenas had a terrible time growing up and as a grown up, he continued to write. He continued to do the thing he loved to do, even though everything was going against it. This film teaches us a lesson of gratitude and to not take anything for granted. I’m really glad I got to this and I will recommend it to anyone.

Before Night Falls has a lot of potential as it strives to touch on themes largely ignored by most films. It plays many interesting and unique notes but I’m not sure it produces a melody. I’m going to focus on three things (I’ve-manipulated-their-names-so-there’s-an-alliteration:): plot, poetry, and path.

By plot I mean the sequence of events, i.e. what actually happens. I’m specifically interested in the dreaminess of many scenes. One prime example is the dream (?) Rey has of his mom as he’s in jail. It’s clear the creators are trying to get the effect of “viewer can’t tell what’s real from imaginary” which to be honest is usually a cool device and adds cerebralness to the film. Usually the flavor of this device is along the lines of “was the whole film actually just a dream” or “is the protagonist still in the dream” (Inception), but with Before Night Falls it’s more like every other scene could be a dream since you don’t really know why what’s happening is happening. For example here are some things that were super unclear to me when they happened:

• Did Rey actually make it to Florida on the inner tube (yes eventually we get the answer)? Why did he immediately cut himself? Where did he go afterwards?
• How does Rey meet Lazaro?
• What really happens between Rey and Lt Victor?
• How does Pepe suddenly show up out of nowhere with the propane? Why did the lock him in the cabinet, like what was their plan really? Leave him there indefinitely?
• What happened to that manuscript Rey put in the roof? Did that really happen?

I know what everyone is going to say: the questions are supposed to be left unanswered, there’s supposed to be ambiguity, it adds to the film, etc. But I can’t help but feel someone took the film’s completed script (without any dream stuff) and then just arbitrarily poked holes in it to force it to feel more “artsy.”  It’s not the same as the ambiguity in say 2001: A Space Odyssey which has the effect of “hmm I wonder what this signifies?”; or in Un Chien Andalou which is the extreme of “is there value in absolute meaninglessness?”; in Before Night Falls, it’s more of “wait, what?” (and not as a good “wait what”, like “wait….whaaaat” where your jaw drops but more of just like a super crisp “wait what” and you’re just annoyed but again not the annoyance that makes you think deeply like in Un Chien Andalou, err this is hard to articulate without bringing easy criticism upon myself). I nonetheless applaud the film for doing something different. I’d much rather be quipping about it’s dream sequences than complaining that it never goes beyond a mainstream film’s comfort zone.

The second thing is poetry. Obviously Rey is a writer and a poet, so poetry is naturally incorporated into the film. I really appreciate the beginning and ending poetry, but I would’ve liked more throughout the film. We know that Rey is writing but we don’t really know what. I feel the film could have done more to explore the depth and content of Rey’s work. It does a good and interesting job connecting the motivation for writing with the Cuban politics at the time, but it does little beyond that (with regards to his writing). Similarly it does a good job connecting the problem of (literary) beauty for a dictatorship, but I wish it did more exploring what that actual beauty is or could be.

The third thing is path. In the beginning of the film Rey leaves to join the revolution. We see him jump in the back of the truck. Then the next scene is him coming out of a lecture, now totally disillusioned and critical of the revolution. I wish we could’ve seen this transformation. What actually happened during that time period? Did he form views about the government or was he just ostracized for his homosexuality or perhaps his writing or both? What then led him to attend university? We know at the end of the film that he has opinions on the difference between communism and capitalism but I wish it tracked that evolution more.