Before the Rain

Complete title: Before the Rain (a tale in three parts)

Genre: ethnic drama

With: Katrin Cartlidge (Anne Wentworth), Rade Serbedzija (Aleksandar Kirkov), Grégoire Colin (Kiril), Labina Mitevska (Zamira), Jay Villiers (Nick Wentworth), Silvija Stojanovska (Hana), Petar Mircevski (Zdrave), Ljupco Bresliski (Mitre), Ilko Stefanovski (Bojan), Abdurrahman Shala (Zekir), Vladimir Jacev (Alija), Phyllida Law (Anne's mother), Josif Josifovski (Father Marko)

Director: Milcho Manchevski

Screenplay: Milcho Manchevski

Release: 1994

Studio: Aim, British Screen Productions, European Co-production Fund et al.   

Rating: -

MBiS score: 8.6/10

‟It's important to take sides.”

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Story-line: a young monk facing a crisis, a London picture editor with marital problems and a globe-trotting photographer who has quit his job out of disgust are linked by fate to ethnic strife in Macedonia.

Pluses: quality performances by a uniformly convincing cast, tight direction, a brutal, first-class screenplay featuring spare dialogues and eloquent images, superb photography contrasting London's hustle and bustle with Macedonia's rugged beauty and poor countryside, an appropriate musical score and satisfying production values.

Minuses: none.

Comments: we can thank Milcho Manchevski for this essential film about a troubled, dangerous land where mistrust comes naturally, ethnic and religious lines are more tightly guarded than borders and guns are so prevalent that children use them as playthings. As a statement and a work of fiction, BEFORE THE RAIN is all the more powerful when you consider its narrative structure and how its characters are lured into an intractable conflict. A worthy co-winner at the Venice Film Festival.   

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