Before Night Falls: Schnabel's Best Film

Director Julian Schnabel pulled off a real tour de force with "Before Night Falls" (2001), his second film. Gloriously artistic and gloriously humane, it tells the tragic but uplifting story of Cuba's boy genius, the poet and novelist Reinaldo Arenas, who was brutally mistreated by the bizarrely homophobic (one might even say proto-fascist) regime of Fidel Castro. He heroically escaped Cuba and then in New York was almost immediately mowed down by AIDS in the first wave of infections in the late 1980s.

Schnabel and lead actor Javier Bardem worked together beautifully to bring this man's story to life. Bardem is radiant with the joy of a young gay man coming out of the closet, feeling love for the first time. I presume Bardem is straight. To see a straight man find it with himself to feel this is tonic for the soul. Schnabel I believe is also straight. For two straight men to come together to tell the story of this flamboyant gay man and do it in such a tender and loving way truly amazes.

Some straight men really can feel deep in their soul the anguish and gladness of gay men. Astonishing.

The only sadness to me is that in the past decade Schnabel has not been able to produce more work of this caliber. But we still owe him a real debt of gratitude for giving us this treasure. With regard to Bardem, my appreciation for his artistry keeps getting greater. He is moving near the top of my list of Greatest Male Screen Actors in the World. He's got Marlon Brando in him, mixed with a delight in the world that reminds me at times of a butterfly. What an extraordinary mixture. It's as if he's both straight and gay.