Before the Rain

Most generally, Films are shot in linear form since that is what the viewer’s find most comfortable with. It is easy to accept, follow and agree with after all that is how we live our lives. There is no going backwards and the only way out is through it. Every once in a while a film will come along that not only defies this logic but plays leap frog around it. We can see examples of this sort of work by writer and director Quienton Taranitno in several of his movies and in Christopher Nolan’s 2002 film Momento.

In 1994, Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed another piece of work which mirrors this sort of chopped logic titled Before the Rains. The plot is a lemniscate of three intertwining lives twisted together from across the globe. Very political in its nature, you can never tell where the story actually kicks off at or where it ends. Perhaps that is the point the director is trying to get across.

This film lays down roots in the Republic of Macedonia during war time, Albania and London. It is sectioned up in to three parts “Words, Faces and Pictures”. The opening scene (Words) is at a Macedonian monastery with resident monk Kiril (played by Gregoire Colin) who has made good on his  vow of silence over the past two years but whom, but a series of unfortunate happenings, ends up in places he wouldn’t expect. He leaves the monetary, or is kicked out it is never clear due to harboring a young Albanian girl named Zamira (Labina Mitevska). One scene in this section in which the children of the village are playing with a turtle is particularly harrowing. They surround him with rocks, sticks and eventually fire. They throw bullets in the fire and all scatter. This being a reflection of the bigger problem, violence infiltrating the land and the UN’s unwillingness to stop it a well as a physical manifestation of the repeating theme : "Time never dies. The circle is not round." Everything is connected.

The next section is aptly titled “Faces” and opens with photographs of contemporary starlets bring you up to date with the times (since one was never established before). This is where we are introduced to the character who steals the most screen time and infiltrate’s the other settings, Aleksandar (played by Rade Serbedzija). We also meet this love interest in London Anne (Katrin Cartlidge). It is in the cab when they first re connect that he announces “A hard rains gunna fall”, namaste Bob Dylan and movie title all in one. You also get the sense that “Words” was recent, since there an obvious tension between those on opposite sides of the war in the restaurant scene. Another clue to the timing is a Beastie Boy’s song being played in Words, Faces and Pictures. Everything is connected.

‘Pictures’ is where the most of the questions which have been kicked up over the past hour and a half are answered or satisfied to a point. Aleksandar returns to his home for the first time in 16 years to a disheveled town where everything has changed, to this understanding. It is here he defies the new order that the villagers have gotten used to, and saves the life of Zamira, which eventually causes his death at the hands of his cousin. Everything is Connected.

There are some continuity issues that can be covered up with the whole time sketch explanation. Such as, how Anne got photos of Zimira, but it is this type of circular reasoning that is the overall theme of Before the Rain. There is also a constant lack of communication which drives the death and destruction available in each section of this war torn work.

Writer & director Milcho Manchevski.