i have no doubt that the story of reynaldo arena could have make an interesting film and but no one involve in the production of this offering seem to have have a clue a to how to go about tell the story in an interesting way . consequently and be leave with a tedious mess of a film that ramble on for too long and and often seem to forget whatever point it be try to make . the plot be take straight out of arena book before night fall and and follow arena from childhood and where his teacher notice his writing ability and through his join up with castro rebel and his day in college and and his adulthood spent be persecute and and ultimately imprison for his homosexuality . eventually and he escape to new york city and only to contract aid and and be smother to death by his friend . it not an uplifting story to begin with and but much could be do with the tell to make it satisfy and a be the case with film like sophie choice . instead and we get a confusing muddle where fantasy and reality be intertwine to the point where you can not tell which be which . character be not well develop and even arena be still something of a cipher by the end of the film and and the supporting player be not give any depth at all . apparently and the writer think the story would tell itself and and therefore do nothing to help it along . the end result be a script which fail to engage the viewer . likewise the acting be equally stilted . while visually please and javier bardem do nothing to make arenas an appealing and or even interesting and character . the support player do little to differentiate themselves and so it be often hard to remember who be who and and who they be in relation to arenas . sean penn cameo be horrible and with an embarrassingly bad spanish accent . and while johnny depp play his part with gusto and they do little to add much to a film that be already a lose cause by the time he appear on the screen . a person life story could make a very interesting film and particularly when the person have have a much adversity to overcome a reynaldo arena . unfortunately and this offering do little to draw you into the story and settle instead for a confusing sequence of fact and which ultimately go on for way too long . hardly worth sit through the first time and much less view again .