Javier Bardem stars as the Cuban poet and novelist, Reinaldo Arenas, who was singled out by his teachers and encouraged to further his skills as a writer despite the Castro regime's censorship of any work considered to be subversive or anti-authoritarian. Not only persecuted for his creative beliefs, the openly gay Arenas is jailed on a bogus sex charge. In 1980, Arenas is finally allowed to leave Cuba for the United States, where he achieves freedom of expression. Also starring Johnny Depp.