Before
Night Falls (2000)
Even if you did not know that Julian Schnabel, who
directed "Before Night Falls," was an artist prior to
his career in filmmaking, it would become obvious to
you within the first 15 minutes of this film. With an
eye that frames every image perfectly, inserts beauty,
tension and drama into every setting, Schnabel creates
a work of intense personal vision and breathtaking beauty.
His images astound us, captivate us, and engross us
every moment of the film. But there is so much more.
The story, a biography of a Cuban author, a dissident,
and the acting, featuring a plethora of memorable performances,
grip us and hold us, pulling us through the film, through
the story, with a deep emotional intensity.
We are there, in Cuba in the 50's. We see the rise
of Castro. We follow the young author trying to begin
a career. We see the turn of the country's politics.
We find our way through love, love between men, misunderstood
love that is soon criminal love as well. We go to prison.
We escape to America. We live the life of a beautiful,
loving, passionate artist, this writer, Reinaldo Arenas.
It's is a novelesque story, based on the protagonist's
autobiography of the same name. Yes, much happens here,
yet none of it ever causes disbelief. The film goes
from young Cuba, revolutionaries, gay life, nightclubbing,
to prison, immigration, freedom and finality with amazing
ease.
A film also released in late 2000, Billy Bob Thornton's
"All the Pretty Horses," a work of fiction, followed
a similar arc. Yet the difference between the two films
are amazing. Thornton and Schnabel may film with an
artists eye, but only Schnabel was able to edit and
unfold his film in a way that was never manipulative,
never unbelievable, never disjointed.
In fact, a film by any other director may never have
been able to contain so much information, so much story,
and still remain intact dramatically and cinematically.
Yet Schnabel beautifully navigates his way through the
film. He never spoonfeeds us, never forces anything
on us. His style of camera movement and editing simply
allow us to flow through the film, through the story,
through the life of this amazing person, as if carried
by the tide that washes upon the Cuba beaches. Schnabel's
camera break's rules, moves in ways that would look
clumsy and amateurish from others, yet it never fails
to capture exactly the proper image, proper moment,
proper emotion. It never once fails. There is so much
beauty in the way the camera is used here. Aerial scenes
over green terrain shot from above, from the POV of
a man attempting to escape to America in a hot air balloon,
with the camera delicately flying over the treetops,
evoke a powerful idea of freedom in the film. The same
balloon, on the ground, billowing in the wind, later
represents failure, defeat, and fear. These are powerful
images. Yet Schnabel brings them to us with a quiet
delicacy that simply seems to unfurl onto the screen.
Each moment in the film, as it continues to tell story,
often without words, as it refuses to become trite or
contrived, furthers the film, propels it into the next
scene. We gently careen through the images, through
the story as if in out own hot air balloon, looking
down, seeing the beauty from above, seeing the story
in a way we rarely get to see it. Not Hollywood, not
film school, not dramatic dialogue driven drama but
simply great images, awesome moments in time, slices
of a life which culminates into a story of epic proportions,
of deep intense emotions.
If you are going to the film only because you have
heard that Sean Penn and Johnny Depp are in it, forget
it; they are only in the film about five minutes each.
Go instead to see the remarkable work of Javier Bardem,
of Andrea Di Stefano, of Vito Maria Schnabel. These
virtually unknown actors provide us with captivating
characters and resonant interaction. Bardem is simply
divine as Arenas. In nearly very frame of the film,
his ability to continually make us care for his character
elevates him to the level of greatest of motion picture
thespians. Yet his work is never overwrought, never
sugary, never forced. He embodies Arenas and gives him
to us to accept as we wish. It's magical.
This film is not for everyone, only those who can
appreciate a film that isn't overly scripted, overly
dramatized and overly "acted." Schnabel doesn't set
up Arenas as a poet or as a historical character with
facts and figures, doesn't delve all that deeply into
the political system of the setting, doesn't attempt
to provide us with a history lesson per se. His film
simply unfolds during much of this sort of setting.
We either accept what he shows us or do not. For those
willing to relax, drift and ride with the tide, the
life that unfolds before us is fascinating and moving.
For those wanting a typical American "biopic," this
is not the film for you. Rather, like "Il Postino" and
"Basquiat," Schnabel's first film, "Before Night Falls"
takes us into a life and allows you to live it for yourself.
Isn't that's the true magic of cinema?
Note:
Also with Michael Wincott. The Internet Movie Database
lists Robert Downey Jr. as being in the film but I think
that is a mistake.
In English with occassional Spanish and a tad bit
of French both of which are usually subtitled.
The film contains brief archival footage featuring
images of Cuba's past. The end credits are presented
over images from a documentary called "PM" which was
shot in Havana (apparently in the 50's or 60's) and
was later banned in Cuba. Images of Castro also appear
occassionally and audio snippets of his speeches are
sometimes used.
Score by Carter Burwell. Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson
are also credited with providing music.
Filmed in Mexico and New York.
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