Movie Plug

If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend Before Night Falls, the fantastic biography of a Cuban writer oppressed for his homosexuality -- and refusal to knuckle under -- who eventually escapes during the Mariel boatlift. It's playing on IFC (independent Film Channel) this month. Aside from the slightly jarring appearance of Johnny Depp in two roles (one of them a drag queen), it's a very realistic depiction of what living in Cuba must have felt like -- though the crumbling buildings of the movie's "Havana" are actually in Mexico. I've never understood how any person thinking of themselves as progressive on gay issues could idealize the Castro regime.