Before the rain
Before the rain is a story set in
three parts, which are all evidently connected. The film does not run in chronological order
but rather tells the three parts at different times so as to confuse and make
the viewer piece together how the film would play out if it were in the correct
order. The film was written and direct by Milcho Manchevski in 1994, focusing on
love, hate, fear and religion all wrapped into one involving a group of individuals. The
motto of the film was, "The Circle is not Round." Milcho Manchevski. This was to show his way of not wanting the story to flow smoothly but keep the audience guessing and working things out.
The directors chose to tell the
story using a usual temporal plot structure, which has been used before in other films
such as “Snatch” by Guy Richie.This isn't
a common practice, but done right, can in many ways provide a greater quality of
viewing to the audience as it challenges the viewer to think about what is
going on, rather than just hand it to them on a plate. The first scene starts
with the title “Words”, which focuses on a young girl who is being chased by men.
She is killed in the first couple of scenes, but we see her again at the end of
the film running away again so the film is moving in a circular motion. After
watching the film, I am sure most people will either love or hate the film due
to its set up. I for one was confused with it as I hadn't seen a film flow in
that motion before, but after spending time in class
discussing where each part went, I found it easier to understand and appreciate
what the director was trying to achieve. I still however, struggle to put every
piece in order, but I am slowly getting there. It is the type of film that
requires you to watch it a few times to grasp and understand what is going on
fully.
Milcho Manchevski’s comments about
things that happen, that shouldn't happen, is a way for him saying we are not
trapped by time and that sometimes, there is an opening and an escape. We should not be held back by fear as we will
not ever end up standing up for what we believe in. We should not be scared of achieving
what we believe in. We must take risks sometimes as to avoid a mundane life or boredom.
The film plays out in different
countries and cities, which are drastically different from each other, with
different laws and ways of living. For example in the opening first few scenes
of the film we see men carry guns around to which they end up shooting a girl.
In England gun are not allowed so people cannot freely walk around with them in
their possession. Violence is more of an everyday thing seen in Macedonia with
young children and teenage boys being given guns as though they are toys to
play with. In the restaurant scene, a customer is arguing with a waiter. After
the argument the customer comes back and shoots at people in the restaurant
killing the waiter along with customers. This was seen as a war that was
happening in two other countries spreading to another countries due to the influx
of different nationalities in one place.
Although there is violence in the
film, there is also love between two different people of different backgrounds.
When the young girl falls for the priest and vice versa, neither follow the same religions, but however share something equally. They do not care that they
speak a different language of believe in different gods. What they understand
it that they can relate to one another and connect to the situations they are both
in. When the girl is captured by the group of men, the photographer comes to
rescue her as he feels she shouldn't be killed for a crime she may or may not
have committed. He asks for peace as he too has connections on both conflicting
countries and feels that violence isn't the key as shown when turning down the
gun given to him.
I think Manchevski is trying to
send out a message in this film that we are all the same and connected to each other no matter where we live in the world. Violence, which has
been passed down from generation to generation seems to be everywhere with no sign of it fading out peacefully. We, the people who are alive today have the
option to live together in peace, but more people need to become involved with such matters. We should not hold grudges or hate other
people because of their religions, but except their views and that way the
world will come to be more peaceful. However as the film shows, this is not the
world we live in and good things don’t always happen as many deaths occur and
Love doesn't always win.
I really enjoyed watching the film and felt that the directed used camera shots to show the grim harsh realities of violence in today's societies. Death can be a cruel thing shown with the young girl being killed. I liked that the director showed the beauty of these countries landscapes with long shots of the countrysides. You can often have a negative image in your head of these countries and how they might appear, but there is beauty shown in the film.
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