Before the Rain (1994)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Milcho Manchevski

Writer:

Milcho Manchevski (writer)

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Tagline:

Once You Know The Faces You Will Begin To Understand The Story

Plot:

The circularity of violence seen in a story that circles on itself. In Macedonia, during war in Bosnia...

Plot Keywords:

Macedonian Flag | Mountain | Tomato | Funeral | Nonlinear Timeline

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 12 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Katrin Cartlidge	...	Anne
Rade Serbedzija	...	Aleksander
Grégoire Colin	...	Kiril
Labina Mitevska	...	Zamira
Jay Villiers	...	Nick
Silvija Stojanovska	...	Hana
Phyllida Law	...	Anne's Mother
Josif Josifovski	...	Father Marko
Kiro Ristevski	...	Father Damjan (as Kiril Ristoski)
Petar Mircevski	...	Zdrave
Ljupco Bresliski	...	Mitre
Igor Madzirov	...	Stojan
Ilko Stefanovski	...	Bojan
Suzana Kirandziska	...	Neda
Katerina Kocevska	...	Kate

Also Known As:

Пред дождот (Republic of Macedonia)
Pred dozhdot (Republic of Macedonia)

Runtime:

113 min

Country:

Republic of Macedonia | France | UK

Language:

Macedonian | English | Albanian

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

South Korea:18 | Argentina:16 | Chile:18 | Finland:K-14 | Germany:12 | Norway:15 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15 | Iceland:16

Filming Locations:

London, England, UK

Company:

Aim

Trivia:

First Macedonian movie to be nominated for an Oscar.

Goofs:

Continuity: In the restaurant, over 30 shots are fired with a pistol without reloading.

Quotes:

[first line]
Father Marko: It's going to rain.

Movie Connections:

References Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

Thank you Mr. Manchevski

This movie is absolute perfection. I can't believe it took me 10 years to bump into it by accident. I was stunned to see that the movie was made in 1994 when the entire time I watched it I thought it a reflection rather than prophecy of the civil war that followed.

The fluency of picture, music, and the story is absolutely perfect as viewer is taken from dramatic landscape and slow paced life of orthodox priests to fast paced London streets and offices. Parallel stories in Lonon fasten the pace even more.

The movie goes to show that we are all connected not only in time (past and future) but space (geography) as well. War and suffering in one part of the world affect lives of people in quaint London restaurant. Young wife is left to live with her conciseness when her husband is shot after she asked for divorce. The circle of the human tragedy connects almost every character in the movie but it is imperfect. If the circle were perfect, that is, the tragedy would stop when circle completes - but, the tragedy spirals in time and space.

Acting is fabulous and very real. Time is not wasted overbuilding any character therefore making the circle even more real. The way soundtrack blends with the movie is pure art. All I can say is, thank you for this movie Mr. Manchovski. As powerful as the movie is, it is unfortunate that it did not prevent the civil war in Macedonia. When hate wins over love, innocents loose.