Maybe it's another case of too-high expectations, but Before Night Falls didn't strike me as being worthy of all the praise being heaped on it. It's disjointed and superficial, and considering it comes from a painter (director Julian Schnabel), it isn't very visually accomplished (though occasional scenes are artistic and compelling, particularly those set in an old prison). It's an okay movie that I'd recommend more for the glimpses of Cuban life than for any plot or character elements.
Most annoyingly, everyone speaks English, but with such a heavy accent as to be incomprehensible much of the time. It would have been far easier to follow had the movie been in Spanish with subtitles (not to mention that it would have seemed far more authentic). This difficulty understanding what was being said probably contributed to some extent to my constantly confusing the minor characters that swirled around Arenas. But mostly, I think, the movie did a poor job of setting up relationships and exploring -- or even explaining -- what one character meant to another. For example, in the scene where Arenas joins the Mariel Boatlift (he originally tries floating to Florida on an inner tube, but the Jesus dolphins who guided Elian Gonzalez to Miami never show up, so he never manages to get out of Cuban waters), leaving his homeland to go to the US, you know he's glad to get away from the persecution in Cuba, but I had absolutely no idea if he was leaving behind anyone he would miss, or if he experienced any mixed emotions about his exile. Once he's in New York City, I got no sense of how his life there was different from his life in Cuba (aside from not being beaten and imprisoned); it was impossible to tell even if he liked it or not. There's no sense of what measure of renown or artistic respect, if any, he enjoyed in New York. At one point he says, "In the Communist system, when they kick you in the ass, you have to applaud. In the capitalist system, when they kick you in the ass, you can scream." But we never see him screaming -- or even being kicked.
One automatically sympathizes with Arenas, if only because he's being beaten and persecuted for being gay and for not hewing enthusiastically enough to the Communist party line. But that's about all you ever know about him -- this film gives you no insight into his character or his relationships. Essentially, you feel as much sympathy for him reading a synopsis of the film as you will seeing it -- in other words, it's what he is that inspires a reaction rather than who he is.
Before Night Falls has an interesting story, but unfortunately, nothing else -- the writing, the direction, or the acting -- measures up. It should have been much, much better than it was. If you still want to see it, save your money and wait for it to come out on video, unless you're like me and feel the need to see as many of the Oscar-nominated performances as possible before they're awarded (within the bounds of reason; a best actress nomination for Ellen Burstyn is not going to get me to see Requiem for a Dream).
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