AWR- Before Night Falls

Julian Schnabel's Before Night Falls tells the life of an extremely courageous man by the name of Reinaldo Arenas. Reinaldo is introduced as a young boy who develops a passion for writing right from the beginning of the movie. The movie then moves forward to the time of the Cuban Revolution. By this time, the audience has figured out that Reinaldo is a homosexual and an extremely gifted writer. Reinaldo's writings were considered revolutionary so they were censored by Fidel Castro and his followers. Regardless of how many times Arenas was censored, never does he even consider the option of not writing anymore. Throughout this entire journey, Reinaldo demonstrates how brave and courageous he is by continuing to express himself freely without showing any concern for what may happen to him. Arenas was sent to a rehab camp for homosexuals, tortured, made fun of continously, and never really shown acceptance by society, so it takes a mentally tough person to put this all behind him. Reinaldo found others to take his writings and spread them across other countries, he wrote countless letters for fellow inmates when he was sent to prison, and made it clear that he was born to write. At the end of the film, Arenas finally is able to leave Cuba for the United States where he can express himself more freely. Althought he died at the age of 40, Reinaldo Arenas demonstrated a strong-willed man who was able to put up with a lifetime of abuse because some of his morals were not generally accepted by society at the time.