Before the Rain - Criterion Collection (1995)

The first film made in the newly independent Republic of Macedonia Milcho Manchevski's Before the Rain crosscuts the stories of an orthodox Christian monk (Gregoire Colin) a British photo agent (Katrin Cartlidge) and a native Macedonian war photographer (Rade Serbedzija) to paint a portrait of simmering entrenched ethnic and religious hatred about to reach its boiling point. Made during the strife of the war-torn Balkan states in the nineties this gripping triptych of love and violence is also a timeless evocation of the loss of pastoral innocence and remains one of recent cinema's most poetic evocations of the futility of war.System Requirements:Running Time: 113 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/COMING OF AGE Rating: NR UPC: 715515029421 Manufacturer No: CC1749DDVD Product Description

Confusing but moving...

Macedonian film with English subtitles consists of three stories focusing on tragic love affairs.

The first story set in the beautiful Macedonian mountains is about a young monk who takes on a vow of silence and defends/hides a young Albanian woman who is accused of murder. He is forced to leave the monastery and their relationship comes to a brutal end.

The second story is set in London. A beautiful woman is torn between the love for her husband and leaving him for a famous war photographer and Macedonian by the name of Aleksandar. Her relationship with her husband comes to a violent end.

The final story pulls the prior two stories together. Aleksandar, the war photographer, is sickened about his role in the death of a civilian in his effort to get the "big news picture." He leaves his job in London as a war photographer and returns home to Macedonia. He learns that his home village is torn apart between civil strife between the Macedonians and the Albanians. Hana, his Albanian girlfriend, is banned from seeing him again. Aleksandar, the former photographer who from a distance captured civil war in pictures - now tries to do his part in ending the senseless violence and hatred - instead he finds that he ultimately becomes a casualty (and is in the picture instead of taking the picture).

Recap:

1) Film is divided into 3 stories (with the third pulling the first two together) and they are told backwards which is confusing.

2) Despite the confusion, the images (facial, countryside, city, mountains, skyline), the emotions, the characters, the relationships (civil war where neighbors and friends turn on each other) are all deeply moving. This film will stay with me for some time.

3) Excellent music/soundtrack by the Anastasia band.
July 24, 2008

Seven Star Tragedy in Three Acts

I had heard only that "Before the Rain" is a great movie about issues in the present day Balkans. It is an area of interest to me because of it's history and it's on-going internal strife. I have read a number of books that have given me a sense of what the culture is about. I have come away from studying it's history with an appreciation (rightly or wrongly) that only a man as powerful as Marshal Tito could reign over such internal animosities. However, until I watched "Before the Rain", I didn't fully comprehend the level of such hatred.

The brilliance of "Before the Rain" is seen in the first Act of the movie (Which has conveniently identified the three Acts in case we somehow miss the signifigance). I dare not give away too much in describing the sequence of events. However, consider that you were moved to give up that which you held most precious in your life to help someone else. Then, after making the sacrifice, you discover how little the rest of the world cares for what you did; especially those whom you expected support from. The message is much deeper than that mainly because of the skills of the writer/director Milcho Manchevski who brings to the screen the passions that lead to such self-destructive actions.

The second Act, for me, was a reminder that the hatreds and vendettas are so internalized that their victims could be relocated to anywhere in the world and still need to act out their passions. It was also a helpful way to introduce the man whobecame the main character in the movie.

The third Act was a reinforcement of the first with the added message that no one can change these passions that have already been unleashed on their victims. The efforts our our hero are futile against a feud that has lasted 600 years.

Amidst the rustic beauty of Macedonia and the outstanding preformances by the cast, Manchevski has told his country, his region, and his world the story they all need to hear. His pesamistic message sobers us but also gives hope in a way. If people can begin to see themselves in this movie, maybe that can see the problem as well. While the rest of us look from afar at the problems of a different culture, maybe we, too, might come to understand the self-destructive nature of our own vendettas. July 4, 2008

A Circular Lesson in Compassion and the Futility of War.

"Time never dies. The circle is never round."

Let me join the choir singing unanimous praise for Milèo Manèevski's emotionally extraordinary anti-war film, Before the Rain. Made during the Balkan war-torn 90s and filmed in Macedonia and London, Manèevski's brilliant film documents the violence in the Balkans through three stories, all of which involve doomed love affairs. In the first, "Words," an orthodox Christian monk named Kiril (Grégoire Colin), harbors Zamira (Labina Mitevska), a young Albanian Muslim refugee accused of murder and on the run from a Christian mob. Kiril breaks his monastic vows (including his vow of silence) and flees the monastery for Kiril's sake, and the two then escape across the Macedonian landscape. Unfortunately, their romance meets a violent end. In the second story, "Faces," a pregnant London photo agent (Katrin Cartlidge) finds herself emotionally divided between her love for her estranged husband Nick and the attraction she feels for her lover, Aleksandar (Rade Šerbedzija), a Pulitzer prize-winning Macedonian war photojournalist. (I will not reveal the chilling surprise in that story.) In the third story, "Pictures," the two previous stories are intertwined, bringing together the silent young monk, the London picture editor, and the disillusioned war photographer. Upon his return to Macedonia after 16 years, Aleksandar discovers his Orthodox Christian village now divided by war, and his once-friendly Albanian neighbors are now considered to be his bitter Muslim enemies. His Albanian love interest, Hana, asks him to take care of her daughter, Zamira. The story then circles back to its beginning as world-weary Aleksandar sets out to find the girl, who is being harbored by his nephew, Kiril. (There is an obvious lesson in the film's circular structure.) Ultimately, Before the Rain is as much about the futility of war as it is about political disillusionment and compassion. "Imagine a culture where a man would rather kill his daughter than allow her to love a man from another culture," Roger Ebert writes about this film, "and you will have an idea of the depth of bitterness in this film, the insane lengths to which men can be driven by belief and prejudice." For those who love intelligent cinema in a world of dumbed-down Hollywood blockbusters, Manchevski's film is also a reminder of all that a film may be. This is one of best films of the 90s, deserving the full Criterion treatment.

The Criterion "Special Edition" of this film features a newly restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised and approved by director Milcho Manchevski; audio commentary featuring Manchevski and film scholar Annette Insdorf; a new video interview with actor Rade Šerbedzija; "Behind the Scenes in Macedonia," a 1993 documentary short about the making of Before the Rain; soundtrack selections, featuring the music of Macedonian band Anastasia; on-set footage, theatrical trailers, and stills galleries of production photos, storyboards, and letters; Manchevski's award-winning "Tennessee" music video; new and improved English subtitle translation; and a new essay by film scholar Ian Christie. Highly recommended.

G. Merritt June 6, 2008

Best Foreign Film

I had to watch this film for a foreign film class .. it was by far the best film I've seen. It's an amazing story, with a circular plot. I highly recommend it. May 22, 2008

A soul-stirring indictment of ethnic hatred. Ominous, poetic, brilliant film.

Finally, BEFORE THE RAIN is on DVD. Best of all, the folks at Criterion picked up this marvelous film and have restored it to pristine quality. The digital transfer was supervised and approved by director Milcho Manchevski. It is presented in its original aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The sound is in Dolby Digital Stereo 2.0. There's an accompanying audio commentary and an interview with Rade Serbedzija who played Aleksander (more about him later) in the film. Also included is an essay by film scholar Ian Christie and the original trailer and few other goodies.

What's BEFORE THE RAIN about? A simple synopsis of the film will not suffice. Essentially it is a poetic, albeit tragic look at war and love in the Balkans of the 1990s made by Macedonian director, Milcho Manchevski.

Here's why it's a brilliant film. The photography and music from the Macedonian group "Anastasia" -- Before The Rain (Pred Dozhdot): Original Motion Picture Soundtrack -- is breathtaking and lingers with you days after watching/listening to it. The tripartite narrative structure challenges the linearity of history by linking unsuspecting people, events and objects in a cause-and-effect context. Lastly, it explores how religious, gender and ethnic differences in Macedonia shape both love and politics, even in a global context.

Like all film-makers, Manchevski tells his story with Words, Faces and Pictures. In BEFORE THE RAIN these three components become three parts of the film, in which characters and events are intertwined. In Words, a young Macedonian monk named Kiril (Grégoire Colin) from a 12th-century monastery, has taken a vow of silence. He discovers an Albanian girl named Zamira (Labina Mitevska) hiding in his room. He protects her and dire consequences result. Ironically, he speaks no `words' and when he breaks his vow of silence, neither one understands the other's language. In Faces, a London photo editor, Anne (Katrin Cartlidge), is torn between two men: her estranged husband (Jay Villiers), for whom she feels little love, and Aleksander (Rade Serbedzija), a Pulitzer prize-winning war photographer. Her personal crisis is overshadowed when a tragedy unexpectedly occurs in a London restaurant. Both photographers initially detach themselves emotionally from their subjects (the faces) they photograph, but eventually each is confronted in a personal way and must `face' the consequences of their actions. In Pictures, Aleksander leaves London to return to his childhood village in Macedonia. But things have changed considerably in his 16-year absence. The violence and carnage he witnessed as a frontline photographer (notably the death of a Bosnian POW he may have accidently caused) is inescapable; ethno-religious differences have turned neighbours into enemies. When Hanna, his childhood love from a neighbouring village, seeks his help to protect her (their implied) daughter (Zamira), Aleksander is thrust into an ethnic conflict which has tragic consequences. Unbeknownst to the viewer in Words, we eventually learn Aleksander is also Kiril's uncle whom Kiril discusses in a previous scene with Zamira. The big `picture', if you will, segues all of these people and events into one.

In structuring the film this way, Manchevski demonstrates the interconnectivity of globalism, both its innocuous and menacing aspects. In Words, a mentally unstable Macedonian machine-guns a cat while listening to the music of the Beastie Boys on his Walkman. In Faces, a woman passing through a cemetery in London, where Anne and Aleksander are discussing their future plans, listens to the same song on her Walkman. In another scene, the ethnic violence observed in Macedonia crosses international borders and spills over into a London restaurant when a Balkan nationalist attacks a waiter. After being ejected, he returns armed with a gun and randomly kills several diners, including Anne's estranged husband.

Manchevski also shows how women, regardless of ethnicity, religion or nationality, are subordinated. This is especially the case with Zamira. Although she appears very briefly in Words and Pictures, she is the catalyst that sets in motion the cycle of violence at the centre of BEFORE THE RAIN. She is an Albanian Muslim, who unlike her mother Hanna, rebels against the expectations imposed on Muslim women, defies her grandfather and enrages her brother by challenging the norm. The events that lead to her death in Words, unfold in Pictures. Zamira is accused of luring and of killing Stojan (a Macedonian). In Words, her grandfather alludes to it. Whether the encounter was voluntary or involuntary is not revealed but Stojan's womanising would suggest that Zamira could have been raped. The violence Zamira encounters, and the subordination required of Hanna parallels the humiliation suffered by Christian Macedonian women. Neither religious tradition provides women parity with men, particularly with regard to sexuality. In Pictures, Stojan's wife is forced to serve dinner to him and his family as he makes sexual overtures to the school teacher. In Faces, Anne's estranged husband implies she should resign her position, have the baby and become a simple housewife. Ironically, Aleksander asks Anne to go with him to Macedonia and raise a family.

Insofar as religion is concerned, Manchevski portrays it as one of the causes for ethnic violence rather than the solution. The love ethic which is at the heart of both Christian and Muslim tradition is superceded by the invidious ethic of an eye for an eye. Mitre, the leader of the Macedonian militia, makes this clear to the abbot in Words, when he is tracking down Zamira. He asserts that 500 years of history justify his right to avenge the death of one of their own. In Faces, Manchevski graphically illustrates the notion of an eye for an eye when Anne's husband is shot in the eye by the Balkan nationalist. In Pictures, Aleksander's own people shoot him while trying to save Zamira, even after pleading to have the accusations against her taken to a legal court. The story comes full circle.

This is hammered out in one of the single most powerful images -- and there many -- at the beginning in Words, village children have made a circle out of twigs and placed two docile turtles in it. They've created gun turrets on the shell of the turtles, placed them in mock battle and are shouting, "Go Ninja turtle, kill him." The scene cuts to the monks in some ritual involving prayers and incense. The camera cuts back to a single turtle in the circle, where bullets have been sprinkled and the twigs set afire; the bullets explode killing the turtle while the monks pray, oblivious to the event. In less than ten minutes, Manchevski introduces us to the central themes of the film: violence, religion and taking sides.

Aleksander is the protagonist of this film. It's interesting to note he shares the namesake of another Macedonian - Alexander the Great. Not surprisingly too, he is similar to Alexander the Great. Both have experienced war, travelled much of the world, loved foreign women, mingled and adopted foreign customs, bridged cultural barriers, etc. Even in gallantry, they share a common heroic stature as defenders of the underdog, the vanquished. But alas, true to the more famous Alexander, the metaphorical one dies also at an early age.

Why Manchevski created such a character is pure conjecture, but I suspect it has something to do with the Eastern Orthodox concept of Alexander the Great as a pre-Christ figure -- a champion, a saviour, a martyr; in which case, Manchevski's Aleksander is certainly all of these. But his passionate and platonic love of humanity does not save any one, least of all himself; it only serves as a lesson.

This leads me to conclude that to break the circle of violence, ethno-religious hatred, wars in general, it seems as though Manchevski wants to say love is the way, but the reality is humanity is not ready to realise this incontrovertible truth.

Great film! Five stars in my estimate! March 31, 2008

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