Before the Rain (1994)

Before the Rain is a film composed of three loosely interconnected episodes Words, Faces, and Pictures. All of these segments are dealing with the influence of the Bosnian War in Macedonia, and the unintended consequences war, especially racially motivated war, can have on people's lives. The first segment called Words takes place at a picturesque Macedonian monastery located atop a mountain.The cinematography is beautiful. There are lush green gardens, mountain ranges, and a vibrant sky with oversized and exaggerated features. Within the monastery itself there are lingering shots on pre- Renaissance paintings and the architecture of the compound. Words is undoubtedly the most visually stimulating of the episodes. The second segment, Faces, is odd when compared to the first and third. It doesn't take place in Macedonia, instead it is set in London and is entirely in English whereas the other segments are in Macedonian or Albanian with subtitles. It is also the weakest episode in the movie. The story is less interesting and maybe even a little boring, as it deals with a woman coping with an inconvenient pregnancy and her love for the man she has been cheating on her husband with, which is much less compelling than the creeping threat of bigotry and war that the rest of the movie focuses on. The cinematography is not very good is this section either; instead of the vibrant Macedonian countryside, Faces just takes place in a dirty city and lacks any of the interesting or stylized visuals that can be found in Words or Pictures. It also has the weakest links to the other segments. The only connection to the first segment are some photos of Kiril and Zamira that were taken after Zamira's death. These are only briefly seen and have no impact on the story. Because the link is so flimsy it would be easy to forget about these photographs or just discount them. If a person did that they might think that the first segment actually happened last and the rest of the film was just a flashback. The filmmakers clearly wanted a more complicated explanation to the films continuity, so by making it so easy to ignore certain details, they've undermined their own ideas. The only interesting detail is that Katrin Cartildge, who plays the protagonist in this episode would play a nearly identical journalist character who is also caught up in the Bosnian conflict when she appeared in No Man's Land seven years later. The third and final segment, Pictures, is the strongest of the three. It is the only segment that successfully contains story elements from the other two episodes, bringing in Aleksandar who was introduced in the Faces as the protagonist and giving the backstory of Zamira before the events of Words. It is the section of the film that creates the most tension and has the most emotional resonance. This segment also features several apparent homages to classic American Westerns. The scene where Aleksandar is riding a bicycle while whistling is reminiscent of the bicycle scene with Paul Newman from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, and when Aleksander is going to his cousin's barn to help birth the lambs he is framed in the darkened doorway almost identically to the way John Wayne is framed in The Searchers. When Aleksandar first walks up to his old house the camera is at a low angle focusing on his destroyed house and roughly constructed fence as Aleksandar walks into frame from the left with the sun setting in the background. There are similar shots in Clementine and the Grapes of Wrath, both John Ford movies as well. There is even a moment where Aleksander gives a Zippo lighter to the father of former girlfriend, noting that they are often used in American movies. This reveals that the director has seen enough American films to know the minute detail of what kind of lighters are often used, so it is reasonable to assume that he would intentionally include the other references because he is a fan of the movies they came from. Aside from the individual stories the movie's big selling point is the way it plays with the ideas of time and continuity. In the second segment there is graffiti on a London wall that that says, "Time Never Dies, The Circle is not Round." This is also the tagline of the movie, and sums up the nonlinear approach the movie takes. Before the Rain came out in 1994 the same year as what is likely the most famous example of nonlinear storytelling, Pulp Fiction, but Pulp Fiction's approach is much different than this movie. While the scenes and story segments are out of order in Pulp Fiction they could be edited into a linear movie without any real contradictions. Before the Rain wants to emphasize these contradictions and make a story that could never be told in a strictly linear manner. The point of doing this seems to be to make a statement about the vicious cycle of war. How things mindlessly repeat over and over for no reason, accomplishing nothing. Particularly it deals with the way these ideas pertains to the Bosnian War. The film characterizes the war as being meaningless and motivated by prejudice. It's interesting to note that of the three major deaths in the movie, none of the three killed were soldiers, none were actually involved in the conflict, and in the case of Zamira and Aleksandar they are killed by their own family members. At no point in the movie does anyone successfully kill their "enemies." They only succeed in killing bystanders or the people they would claim to be fighting to protect. This seems to be the core idea of the movie.

A recent trend in films is to present plots non-sequentially. This isn't done all the time, of course, but this radical way of constructing a plot have simply been overused in recent years. For me, the novelty has definitely worn off. Because of that, I wasn't as impressed with "Before the Rain" and many other reviewers.This film consists of three stories--all which relate to Macedonia and ethnic violence. However, while at first the three stories only seem to have this as the common thread, some of the characters also appear in multiple stories--making one larger story about hatred and ethnic violence. Story 1 is about an Albanian woman who is being sought by Christian Macedonians--and she's being sheltered by a monk who has taken a vow of silence.Story 2 is about a pregnant Brit whose lover is Macedonian. He has been living abroad for many years but leaves to go back--and leaves her behind pregnant. When she meets her husband to ask for a divorce, BAD things happen somewhat out of the blue.Story 3 shows the man in 2 in Macedonia and his return isn't as happy as he'd hoped.Each story is well done and interesting. The acting and direction are also quite nice. But as I indicated above, I am personally tiring of non-sequential films and the novelty has worn off for me. Well done but I am not in love with the film.

There are a lot of trashy films and sub par performances out there. Soon we will learn who was the worst for last year. Among the contenders are Johnny Depp for The Lone Ranger, Ashton Kutcher for Jobs, Adam Sandler for Grown-Ups 2, Jaden Smith for After Earth, and Sylvester Stallone for Bullet To The Head, Escape Plan and Grudge Match.It is films like Before the Rain that makes movie going worthwhile and makes us forget the junk that assaults our senses.When we hear about Bosnians, Croats, and Serbs, we have a tendency to tune out. What do we care? It's not out war. But this film will put it in perspective in a way that you will care because all war is our war.Oscar nominated for Best Foreign Language Film, we will have to face the fact that we are often consumed by hate to the exclusion of all else. As long as that exists, we will be constantly at war.

To me, this movie conveys the ESSENCE of war. The very start...Profound. Genius. This is how war happens. And it is so very, very sad.If only people could think back to this point in their very own lives (yes, you) and be less rigid and more forgiving and less focused on detailed "rules and regulations".. Each person and each action or non-action counts.Beautifully acted and beautiful, haunting music. Although I have seen it several years ago, "Before the rain" keeps coming up in my mind because of conflicts all around us in the world. Unfortunately the story is very much alive today and I'm afraid it will be for a long time.