Before the Rain

Macedonian writer-director Milcho Manchevski's remarkable 1994 debut Before the Rain captures the ethnic and religious violence that tore the Balkan states apart in the early-to-mid 1990s. A war film, but not in the conventional sense, Before the Rain dramatizes the civil war between Christian Macedonians and Muslim Albanians through a three-part story (with parts one and three set in Macedonia, and part two in London). A strikingly beautiful film that recalls the pastoral splendor of classic American Westerns while delivering a potent, uncompromising statement on the futility of war, Manchevski's non-linear narrative focuses on the repercussions of religious and ethnic hatred felt by a young Christian monk (Grégoire Colin), a British photo agent (the late Katrin Cartlidge), and a native Macedonian war photographer (Croatian actor Rade Šerbedžija). The film deftly interweaves episodes of shockingly personal violence in the states formerly known as Yugoslavia together with quiet moments of rich humanity and breathtaking beauty, before ultimately connecting the stories with devastating impact. This Criterion Collection release is typically loaded with a strong set of DVD extras, including an audio commentary featuring Manchevski and film scholar Annette Insdorf, a new video interview with Šerbedžija, a behind-the-scenes featurette, selections from the soundtrack score by Macedonian band Anastasia, an assortment of Manchevski's photographs and his award-winning music video “Tennessee” by Arrested Development, stills galleries, storyboards, and a booklet with an essay by film scholar Ian Christie. Recommended. (J. Shannon)