Movie-Before Night Falls

Starring Javier Bardem, Before Night Falls (2000) is about Cuban poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas.

Arenas, grew up very poor, and as her grew into a young man, started his writing journey. He also was a big supporter of the Cuban rebels, led by Fidel Castro, and rejoiced when they ousted the Batista puppet government. But the rejoiced was not long lived, as the Castro regime became a dictatorship, and did not like intellectuals. The regime also did not like homosexuals, and Arenas was that also.

Bardem does a really good job here. The trouble is, I could not really get a connection to this character. This is a good film, but I just did not feel the emotional power of it. My lovely wife did! She loved it. But I just felt a distance from it that I could not bridge and I cannot explain why. It should be up my alley, a literary tale of courage in the face of adversity. But I could not feel that emotional center to the movie that made me care.