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Before night falls

Threat advisory: Elevated - Significant risk of entertaining activities

Movie propaganda

Before night falls spans the whole of brilliant Cuban author and exile Reynaldo Arenas' (Javier Bardem) life, from his rural childhood and his early embrace of the revolution to the persecution he would later experience as a writer and homosexual in Castro's Cuba; from his departure from Cuba in the Mariel Harbour exodus of 1980 to his exile and death in the United States of America. It is a portrait of a man whose search for freedom - artistic, political, sexual - defied poverty, censorship, persecution, exile and death. Like Arenas' work, Before night falls combines passages of transporting imagination with urgent realism; in so doing, it embodies the creative ethos to which Arenas dedicated himself: transforming experience into unfettered expression.

Theatrical propaganda posters

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Target demographic movie keyword propaganda

  • Film biography Reynaldo Arenas Cuba gay auther exile

Persons of interest

  • Javier Bardem .... Reynaldo Arenas
  • Diego Luna .... Carlos
  • Lia Chapman .... Lolin
  • Sean Penn .... Cuco Sanchez
  • Jerzy Skolimowski .... Professor
  • Patricia Reyes Spíndola .... Maria Teresa Freye de Andrade
  • Michael Wincott .... Herberto Zorilla Ochoa
  • Hector Babenco .... Virgilio Piñera
  • Andrea di Stefano .... Pepe Malas
  • Santiago Magill .... Tomas Diego
  • Manolo García .... Faustino
  • Johnny Depp .... Bon Bon/Lieutenant Victor
  • Reynaldo Arenas .... Author
  • Cunningham O'Keefe .... Screenwriter
  • Lázaro Gómez Carriles .... Screenwriter
  • Julian Schnabel .... Screenwriter
  • Julian Schnabel .... Director

Cinematic intelligence sources

Intelligence analyst

Special Agent Matti

Theatrical report

What a life.

Some people are born into wealth and safety and spend their whole lives without knowing anything else. Some people are born into poverty and struggle and spend their whole lives without knowing anything else. Other people have lives which take them through imprisonment and freedom, joy and tragedy, the highest peaks and the lowest troughs. Reynaldo is one of the latter.

That's not so good for him because it's a hell of a life to live through, but it's great for you because you get a film that's worth watching. Javier, already a star in the arts arena, creates a man whose heart is bared for the camera. The story leaves no room for coasting on star power but his performance just accelerates from unenviable beginning to tragic end; for 98 minutes he is Reynaldo Arenas.

There are a series of cameos from famous and not so famous actors, of whom Johnny Depp is the absolute best. A latino drag queen in a blonde wig is hard to beat at any time, but in the middle of a men's prison is beyond the pale. You go girl!

If you like literature, films with writing at the bottom of the screen, queer cinema, biographies or life on struggle street then Before night falls is just the thing for you. If you don't, then why on earth are you reading this review?

Media intelligence (DVD)

  • Audio: Dolby Digital 2.0
  • Features:
    • Biographies
    • Director's notes
    • Synopsis
    • Trailer
  • Languages: English
  • Picture: Widescreen 16:9
  • Subtitles: English

Security censorship classification

MA 15+ (Adult themes, medium level violence)

Surveillance time

98 minutes (1:38 hours)

Not for public release in Australia before date

Film: 9 June 2001 - Sydney Film Festival
Film: 6 September 2001 - National
DVD rental: 13 February 2002
VHS rental: 13 February 2002
DVD retail: 12 June 2002
VHS retail: 12 June 2002

Cinema surveillance images

Before night falls image
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