Year: 2000
Directed by: Julian Schnabel
Written by: Reynaldo Arenas, Cunningham O´Keefe
Music by: Carter Burwell
Johnny Depp playing: Bon Bon/Lieutenant Victor
Runtime: 133 min.
Release Date: January 26th, 2001
Plot Summary
Before Night Falls is based on the autobiography of the same name by Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas. Arenas, who was openly gay, was born in Oriente in 1943 and raised by his single mother and grandparents who soon moved the entire family to Holguín. After moving to Havana in the sixties to continue his studies, Reinaldo started exploring his sexuality and ambitions. After finishing second in a writing contest, Arenas gets offered the chance to publish his first work. Through his work and friendships with other openly gay men (such as Pepe Malas and Tomas Diego), Arenas managed to find himself.
However, the political climate in Cuba continued to become increasingly dangerous and in the early seventies Arenas is arrested for sexually assaulting minors (a crime he was not guilty of) and publishing abroad without official consent. In the next decade Arenas keeps going in and out of prison, attempting to leave the country several times but failing each time.
In 1980, Arenas is finally able to leave Cuba for the US where he starts a new life with his close friend and lover Lazaro Gomez Carilles. However, after a few years, Arenas finds out he is suffering from AIDS. After spending several years in sickness he eventually dies in 1990 with help from Lazaro.
by Wikipedia
