Product Details

• Actors: Javier Bardem, Johnny Depp, Olatz López Garmendia, Giovanni Florido, Loló Navarro
• Directors: Julian Schnabel
• Writers: Julian Schnabel, Cunningham O'Keefe, Jana Bokova, Lázaro Gómez Carriles, Reynaldo Arenas
• Producers: Julian Schnabel, Jon Kilik
• Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Original recording reissued, NTSC
• Language: English, French, Russian, Spanish
• Rated: R (Restricted)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: New Line Home Video
• VHS Release Date: October 2, 2001
• Run Time: 133 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (72 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00005MKME
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #303,806 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Based on the posthumously published memoir by Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas, Before Night Falls is artist-director Julian Schnabel's second exercise in artist biography, but where Schnabel's earlier film Basquiat was relatively conventional, this film is bolder in both style and execution. Schnabel is perhaps too enamored of his subject as a noble martyr, lending the film a somewhat inflated sense of importance. Still, it's rare to see an artist's life and work so elegantly interwoven, and Before Night Falls uses all of Arenas's life as its canvas, from impoverished youth to lively gay freedom in mid-1950's Cuba; imprisonment during Castro's antigay regime; and to New York City in 1980, followed by Arenas's battle with AIDS and subsequent suicide (depicted here as assisted) in 1990.

Through these extreme rises and falls, Arenas is always writing, his typewriter his most faithful lover and weapon (by way of smuggled manuscripts) against the dark forces that surround him. As Time magazine's Richard Corliss wrote, Arenas is "a serious actor's dream role: to be a gay Jesus in a modern Passion Play," and Javier Bardem--the first Spanish actor to receive an Oscar nomination--inhabits the role with subtle ferocity, charting this emotional odyssey with outer reserve but blazing infernos of internal passion. And while Schnabel suffers from a hyperactive camera, there's poetry here--visual, dramatic, and literal--and vibrant humor to temper the deep tragedy of Arenas's life. Schnabel also uses his actor friends to good advantage: a nearly unrecognizable Sean Penn adds an ironic touch to his brief appearance as a peasant, and Johnny Depp is both funny and fearsome in dual roles as a drag queen and vicious army interrogator. --Jeff Shannon

From The New Yorker

At its best, Julian Schnabel's second film is a memoir of easy and raffish good times-the endless summer days at the beginning of the Cuban Revolution. Schnabel adapted an autobiographical memoir by the poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas (Javier Bardem), a homosexual who was initially a celebrant of the revolution, then a victim of it, and was finally allowed to leave Cuba with the rapists and thieves discarded by Castro in 1980. Arenas settled in New York, wrote a great deal, and, suffering from AIDS, committed suicide here in 1990. Schnabel doesn't tell this story coherently: characters appear or disappear without explanation, and we don't always know where we are. The method is closer to collage than to Hollywood script construction, but Schnabel works sensually, and that makes up for a lot. Bardem, who has the face of a shy, smiling bull-a prominent nose, handsome eyes-loosens up his shoulders and elbows and gives a performance of great charm. His Arenas wants to live only for writing and pleasure but has to deal, against his will, with the brutalities of politics. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

41 of 43 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Transports You, March 8, 2004

By 

Westley (Stuck in my head) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Before Night Falls (DVD)

"Before Night Falls" recounts the incredible life of Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, played with great sensitivity by Spanish actor Javier Bardem. Born a peasant in the 1930's, Arenas had the great misfortune of being a gay writer in a country that considered art and homosexuality to be counter-revolutionary. "Before Night Falls" is based on his memoir and relates his imprisonment in Cuba and subsequent exodus to the United States. Despite this persecution, Arenas' work flourished and was published widely, albeit mostly outside of Cuba.

Director Julian Schnabel is a well-known "neo-expressionist" painter; accordingly, he is able to bring an artist's understanding and sensibility to the story. His prior film was "Basquiat," about the 1980's graffiti artist. Although Schnabel seems to be limiting himself to portraits of artists, the two films are very disparate. Specifically, "Before Night Falls" is much grander in scope and incorporates more directorial flourishes than does "Basquiat." Despite the epic sweep of the film, Schnabel successfully tells Arenas' very personal and heart-rending story. Another major asset of the film is the cinematography and ambiance; vibrant colors and people populate the film. The viewer is transported to 1960s Cuba; you can feel the humidity and the pulse of the Mambo music.

Javier Bardem gives an astonishing performance, for which he deservedly received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for Best Actor. For the role, he was required to learn Cuban-Spanish as well as English. The DVD extras include a 7 minute interview with Arenas, and it's apparent that Bardem nails the look and speech of the artist, without reverting to a simple impersonation. Although most of the actors are of Latin descent, two big American stars have small roles: Johnny Depp has hilarious joint roles as a Cuban transvestite and a Cuban general, and Sean Penn plays a peasant farmer, rather convincingly too. The only minor debit of the film is that it's a tad over-long and could have used a bit more editing. However, overall, "Before Night Falls" is a superb film that perfectly captures another time and another place. Most highly recommended.

Extras: The extras include an interesting commentary track with Schnabel and Bardem, a short behind-the-scenes documentary filmed by Schnabel's daughter, and an interview with Arenas conducted in 1984 after he immigrated to the U.S.

38 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Powerful Filmmaking, July 30, 2001

By 

Luis Hernandez (New York, New York, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before Night Falls (DVD)

Based on the memoirs of the late gay Cuban poet/author Reinaldo Arenas, "Before Night Falls" is a lengthy, depressing, yet brutally realistic film on the life Arenas before, during, and after the Cuban Revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power. Starting with his childhood in rural Holguin, Cuba, the film covers every aspect of Arenas' upbringing, his attraction to men, and his run-ins with revolutionary agents as he became one of the island nation's most prominent writers.

Arenas, portrayed excellently by Spanish actor Javier Bardem, sees his life change dramatically, first from what he believes will become a promising age of development after the ruthless Batista regime is toppled by Castro's forces, to later a life of living in fear and hiding as he is blacklisted due to his writings and homosexuality by the new regime's ideological police.

As the film progresses, we see how Arenas deals with the repression of the regime in it's early days, and his persecution for his writings, many that were smuggled out of Cuba by French sympathizers of Arenas's work. Later arrested for a crime that he didn't commit, Arenas finds himself a fugitive living in Cuba, until he is arrested and sent to a Cuban prison before his eventual departure from the island in the Mariel Boatlift of the late 1970's

The film, which is one of the most powerful pieces of filmmaking I have seen in recent years, was directed with style and respect by Julian Schnabel. The film, which is a pioneer to the sense of the many visuals of the male anatomy/body used to illustrate this story of growing up gay in Castro's Cuba might disturb some people who are not accustomed in seeing this on the silver screen and/or gay sexuality. However, this shouldn't be a reason in not seeing this film.

Many excellent actors lend their talent to this, most notably Johnny Depp ("Edward Scissorhands") in a dual role as a prison manager and as a drag queen entertainer at the prison. Also contributing his immense talent is Sean Penn ("U-Turn") in a small role as a wagon driver who picks up a young Arenas on his way to fight in the Revolution. Also many fans of Latin telenovelas will recognize Cuban actor Francisco Gattorno ("Strawberry and Chocolate") in a rare English-language role as a French sympathizer who helps Arenas get his work published abroad in France.

Simply one of the best films of 2000, this is a must-see film for anyone interested in Cuba, it's people, or human rights. While many might see the Castro regime as a very repressive one, in fact the previous Batista regime was equally as ruthless with homosexuals, especially those in Cuba's high society. In the past decade, Castro has allowed greater freedom for homosexuals, so much that the Cuban government funded the Academy-Award nominated for Best Foreign Film, "Strawberry & Chocolate") back in the early 1990's.

One of the best films of 2000! I highly recommend it.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Better To Die Free Than Live Dead, October 18, 2001

By 

Jeffrey Ellis "bored recluse" (Richardson, Texas United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Before Night Falls (DVD)

Before Night Falls is the second film from painter Julian Schnabel. Much like his first film, Basquiat, Schnabel uses this film to explore the life of another late artist -- the Cuban poet Reinaldo Arenas. The film follows Arenas for his birth to Cuban peasants, his concurrent discoveries of both homosexuality and poetry during his youth, and his eventual, Hellish imprisonment under Fidel Castro's communist regime. Arenas was eventually sent to America as a part of the Mariel boatlift which later became infamous for being made up of several psychotics and habitual criminals. That Castro also included a large number of gay Cubans amongst this bunch shows the beyond low regard in which gays were held in what many still foolishly consider to be Castro's "enlightened" government. Settling in New York and living in great poverty (but finally with the freedom to be, regardless of his sexuality, acknowledged as a human being), Arenas eventually developed AIDS and killed himself in the early '90s. It doesn't sound like a happy story yet strangely, one cannot help but be inspired by this film. Certainly, the scenes in Cuba are the strongest. Though this is not an explicitly political film and Schnabel is hardly a right-winger, he is still unflinching in portraying how Castro's regime established its power by punishing anyone who dared to display any form of individuality and how homosexuals -- who were hardly on society's A list before Castro came to power -- became a convenient scapegoat. Through prodigous excerpts from Arenas's writings, Schnabel also shows how, under a system where freedom is forbidden, both art and any display of defiant individuality (in this case, Arenas' sexuality) become all the more important. They become a lifeblood and finally, the only way to keep oneself from becoming a member of the living dead. Once Arenas reaches America, the film is a little less sure of itself and, until Arenas finds himself facing death -- at times, it seemed that Arenas made it to America and the next day, discovered he was dying. The parts of the film dealing with Schnabel's illness might leave some viewers uncomfortable as Schnabel doesn't attempt to sentimentalize or preach. Yes, it is clear that Arenas, at least according to this film, contracted the disease through having unsafe sex and some might say that, for all his talk of freedom, Arenas' freedom to pursue his lifestyle has now killed him. But I think to say that would be to seriously misread this film. AIDS is presented as a risk but, at the same time, its clear that to have the freedom to live life the way you want is more important than that risk. As well, in New York, at least Arenas has the right to end his own life as opposed to Cuba where he would have been tossed, more or less, into a concentration camp. In the end, this is a film celebrating freedom -- artistic and personal -- and embracing the potential risks involved in that freedom.

As a painter, Schnabel is infamous for his huge canvasses and at times, this film does feel like its striving too hard to be epic and, as a result, about to crash and burn. However, Schnabel always manages to retain control and, only towards the end, does it seem occasionally a little overlong. Visually, the film is hauntingly beautiful (especially in the Cuba segments) and Schnabel shows a good feel for getting good performances from his actors. Javier Bardem is amazing in the lead role -- providing a valuable anchor for the film and never allowing himself to play a 1-D saint. Amongst the other actors, the best known are probably Sean Penn and Johnny Depp in two brief cameos. Penn shows up as Areas' father and is actually a bit of a distraction but he's only on screen for a few minutes. Depp plays two roles during the Cuban prison scenes -- a cross-dressing inmate and a sadistic prison warden. Though at first it might seem like stunt casting, Depp's two roles make a valuable point about the totalitarian existence -- the only real difference between the outcasts and the establishment is the uniform worn.