R E V I E W S
Before Night Falls (2000)
Starring: Javier
Bardem, Olivier Martinez, Andrea Di Stefano, Johnny Depp Studio: Fine Line Features Review Posted: 2.25.01 Rating: 8/10
By Stephen.
"A lively account of a man's demise"
Before Night Falls is rated R for strong sexual content, some language, and brief violence. All those elements are necessary to present the life of Reinaldo Arenas, a Cuban homosexual whose work was censored and whose life was limited. Julian Schnabel's vision of his life in and around Cuba is left more or less to his imagination. Yet, it feels as though its authentically true to life.
This is Schnabel's second movie. Basquiat (1996) dealt with Jean Michael Basquiat, a homeless Manhatten graffity artist who rose to fame for a short while but drowned in madness shortly after. Arenas's life isn't all that different, given that their time, character, and society are different. Their conflict is what connects them.
Arenas was told to have a gift for poetry by his teacher. His father wasn't fond of it. Later in life, the government wasn't fond of it either, as Arenas's work was censored and at times confiscated. He was also persecuted and thrown into prison for his sexual outing, a subject viewed as a corruption to Cuba's youth. Arenas claimed to have slept with 5,000 men by the age of 25.
Javier Bardem, a Spanish actor, plays Arenas with certain acuity. Arenas is accepted as gay because the story of the movie says he is and not because of what he suits to wear. As he explains to his friend on a beach, there are four different kind of homosexuals. Yet, there are not constant rules about how one should look and/or behave. It kind of seems as though Arenas chose to live how he did as part of his compulsive feeling toward defying Castro in every way.
And so Before Night Falls is a lively account of one man's demise. I have not heard about the book this is based on. After seeing this movie, it would be interesting to see how Schnabel and his writing partners incorporated Arenas's work and what they left out.
This movie makes use of stock footage of Castro and several of his speeches, the rebels in Cuba, etc. Schnabel's vision, and the one of his D.O.P., flows with some shaky movements at times, but in turn, it feels like its adding to the reality of the story. The scene involving a baloon flying over Cuba was extremely well shot and combined superbly with Carter Burwell's score! Before Night Falls wasn't perfect, because of the pacing and some minor difficulties I had watching it. However, it is a film worthy of its praise.
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