Reinaldo Arena's: Before Night Falls

I really enjoyed watching the film on Reinaldo Arena’s life.  Although I was not very familiar with his life or story, I became very interested in this Cuban poet after watching the movie “Before Night Falls”. I think the movie does a great job at portraying the sad realities that Arenas had to face in his homeland of Cuba and upon immigrating to the United States.  In Cuba he was marginalized from society for opposing the government, writing about controversial issues, and being a homosexual. He found himself forced to leave Cuba in order to escape political persecution. Unfortunately this was the sad reality for many Cubans during Castro’s regimen. Watching the movie helped me realize the injustices that existed towards any member of society that did not follow the preconceived ways a citizen was supposed to behave, or be like in Cuba.            

            Also, watching about Arena’s life after he moved to the US and contracted HIV was really sad.  However, I think it accurately portrayed the harsh realities that Latinos with HIV have to face as members of a disadvantaged group. Like Arena’s, most Hispanics infected with HIV are not given proper care due to their scarce resources and lack of healthcare. This made me more aware of the crisis on this issue that exists in the Latino community. I would like to watch this movie in its entirety as well.