Before the Rain (1994)

Three interconnected stories of love under the threat of civil war in Macedonia and London.

Director:

Milcho Manchevski

Writer:

Milcho Manchevski

Stars:

Katrin Cartlidge, Rade Serbedzija, Grégoire Colin

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 19 wins & 3 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Grégoire Colin	...	Kiril (as Gergoire Colin)
Josif Josifovski	...	Father Marko
Boris Delcevski	...	Petre
Dejan Velkov	...	Mate
Kiril Ristoski	...	Father Damjan
Mladen Krstevski	...	Trifun
Dzemail Maksut	...	Kuzman
Labina Mitevska	...	Zamira
Mile Jovanovski	...	Priest Singing at Funeral
Milica Stojanova	...	Aunt Cveta
Petar Mircevski	...	Zdrave
Rade Serbedzija	...	Aleksander
Ljupco Bresliski	...	Mitre
Igor Madzirov	...	Stojan
Kiril Psaltirov	...	Mome

Storyline

Before the Rain tells the stories of an orthodox Christian monk, a British photo agent, and a native Macedonian war photographer to paint a portrait of simmering ethnic and religious hatred about to reach its boiling point. 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 powerful laments on the futility of war.

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Plot Keywords:

endless loop | brother brother incest | violence | monk | albanian | 

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Taglines:

Time Never Dies, the Circle is Not Round.

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Genres:

Drama | War

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Official Sites:

Official website

Country:

Republic of Macedonia France UK

Language:

Macedonian English Albanian French

Release Date:

24 February 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

Before the Rain

Filming Locations:

Skopje, Macedonia

Box Office

Budget:

$1,900,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$763,847

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$763,847

Company Credits

Production Co:

Aim, British Screen Productions, European Co-production Fund

Technical Specs

Runtime:

113 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The New York Times include Before the Rain in the "1,000 Best Films Ever Made."

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Goofs

Aleksander is shoot in the back, but when the body is moved we can see the bullet holes not in his back but in his chest.

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Quotes

Father Marko: Time never dies. The circle is never round.

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Crazy Credits

The film begins with a pan over a Macedonian sky covered by dark clouds at dusk. We hear sounds of thunder, when an epigraph from the novel "Dervis i smrt" (The Dervish and Death) by Mesa Selimovic appears on the screen, while a voice is heard reading it: "With a shriek birds flee across the black sky, people are silent, my blood aches from waiting". Afterwards, the titles appear.

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Connections

Referenced in En la cama (2005)

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Soundtracks

Funeral Theme
Composed By Anastasia
Arranged and Produced by Anastasia
© 1994 PolyGram
(P) 1994 PolyGram

User Reviews

Beautiful, tragic, stunning.

The very structure of this film perfectly describes its philosophy - a never ending circle. And it's the structure that makes this film work so powerfully. From the shattering opening section, to the startling second part, to the third story that brings it all together, this is a great film. It's been overlooked for some reason, mentioned rarely in film magazines and in best of the decade lists. But it's a phenomenal work, one that needs to be seen.