A vividly imagined journey

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March 2, 2001

DANIEL DAZA

GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE

Javier Bardem as Reinaldo Arenas and Johnny Depp as Bon Bon.

Biography of gay Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas is compelling, if short on life details

Reviewed by Kaizaad Kotwal

In Before Night Falls, when Cuban writer Reinaldo Arenas is asked, "Why do you write?" he simply replies: "Revenge.”

Before Night Falls is a vividly imagined journey into the life and writings of the brilliant, gay and controversial Cuban author and exile Reinaldo Arenas.

Directed and co-written by Julian Schnabel (Basquiat), the film stars Spanish actor Javier Bardem, whose eloquently complex and quietly powerful performance as Arenas earned him the 2000 LAZARO GOMEZ CARRILES

being whose search for freedom at every level-artistic, political, sexual, personal— defied poverty, censorship, persecution, exile and death.

Like Arenas's work, Before Night Falls combines segments of dreamlike imagination with gritty realism; in so doing, it embodies the creative ethos to which Arenas dedicated himself: transforming personal experience into unfettered expression. The same could be said of Bardem's stunning performance.

The real Reinaldo Arenas

Venice Film Festival's Volpi Cup for Best Actor and more recently an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

The film spans Arenas's entire life, from his rural childhood and his early embrace of Castro's revolution to the persecution he would later experience as a writer and a gay man in Castro's Cuba; from his stealthy departure from Cuba in the Mariel exodus of 1980 to his exile and death in the United States. Here we have a portrait of a human

By the time of his death in 1990, Arenas had written over 20 books, including 10 novels as well as numerous short stories, poems, essays and plays. His body of work is arguably one of the most passionate and angry ever written against the totalitarian state.

Under Schnabel's direction, the film is an imaginative blend of magical lyricism and ripe realism. Schnabel's background as a painter is evident in the way he uses the camera and also in the way he constructs visual montages, to tell a story that is compelling and cogent. From time to time, Schnabel removes all dialogue from a series of scenes, allowing the images and a brilliant score to tell the tale. These are some of the film's best moments.

While the movie is rich in style and has much ground to cover, it does leave the viewer wanting more in the way of details from Arenas's life. There are many aspects of his life left uncovered or briefly run through, but that is mainly due to the large amount of material to be unfolded in approximately two hours.

The supporting cast is marvelous. Oliver Martinez, a French born actor turns in a sweet and touching portrayal as Lazaro Gomez Carille, Arenas's friend.

Andrea Di Stefano gives a suave and obnoxious rendering of the gay, playboy Pepe Malas, who introduces Arenas to Havana's gay culture and who also betrays all those he befriends. Sean Penn, with a gold tooth and heavy makeup, turns in an effective cameo as a farmer who meets the young Arenas on his way to join Castro's rebels. Hollywood heartthrob Johnny Depp does double turns as Bon Bon, a transvestite with a rather large and intriguing capacity

to smuggle goods in body cavities, and Lieutenant Victor, a brutal law enforcer who forces Arenas to denounce his work, his sexuality and in essence his entire being.

But the film truly belongs to Javier Bardem, the son and grandson of actors, part

While the movie is rich in style and has much ground to cover, it does leave the viewer wanting more in the way of details from Arenas's life.

of a long dynasty famous both in Spain's cinema and theatre.

Bardem's performance in Before Night Falls is subtle, detailed and quietly powerful. A lesser actor could have taken a role such as this and imbued it with false histrionics and harsh overacting. Bardem never betrays the essence of Arenas's character, and from his joi de vivre to his intense rage, it is impossible to take one's eyes of Bardem's stunning looks and magnetic physicality.

Schnabel and his team create an eerie reincarnation of Cuba on locations in Mexico, and this serves the film very well. The score works magically with Schnabell's images and the editing and use of documentary footage blends very well to create an interesting whole.

Before Night Falls could have been a much stronger film from the point of giving us more details about Arenas's life. It is nevertheless a compelling piece of cinema and a smashing piece of acting on Bardem's part.

With Castro's Cuba still alive and well, this movie is a tough reminder of the triumph of the human spirit but an equally sobering message of the longevity of totalitarian evil and human oppression.