Before the Rain (Macedonian: Пред дождот, Pred doždot) is a 1994 film about the political differences between North Macedonia and London, with the great contrast used to illustrate the disparity of the present day in 1990s Europe. It was directed by Milcho Manchevski.
It's also a romance, told in three parts for the three 'love' stories: Words, Faces, Pictures. These stories are not linear, however, suggesting repetition and inevitability, as well as distorting the narrative sequence of events. In all, it seems to be the story of how Aleksander Kirkov's life went to shit.
"Words" features the story of an Albanian infant girl running from war in Bosnia, being chased by soldiers who believe she is a murderer (apparently this doesn't sound messed up in Southern Europe) and the monk who hides her, being fearless in front of the men due to his vow of silence.
"Faces" moves to upmarket London where Anne, a photographer, can't choose between her stable husband or the rugged war photojournalist, Alex.
"Pictures" is the story of Alex moving back to Macedonia, finding out how the land has been divided by war, and being asked by his Albanian sweetheart to go find her young daughter.
Things do not end well.
The film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Tropes:
- Anachronic Order: Eventually we find out that the first story, "Words", takes place chronologically after the other two.
- Arcadia: The opening sequence featuring a farm in North Macedonia set to peaceful traditional music, deliberately done to juxtapose with the rest of part 1.
- Aspect Montage: The opening scene with close-up shots of tomatoes and oranges being harvested by Kiril.
- Auto Erotica: Alex and Anne make out in the back seat of a cab.
- Bar Brawl: The film shows a fight scene and then a shootout at a London restaurant.
- Big Brother Instinct: The monk to the little girl, particularly seen when after an interesting first few moments together, he checks on her wrapped in a blanket, supposedly asleep, before he goes to bed himself.
- Elective Mute: The young monk in the first part has taken a vow of silence, which becomes important in secret keeping.
- Evil Is Petty: A henchman of Mitre enjoys shooting a cat on a rooftop.
- Face Framed in Shadow: Enforced in the film with the little girl, who wants to keep the lights off and in some cases physically block her face to cast a shadow to "hide", despite the fact that it's not that dark and the monk has definitely already seen her. During this sequence, the monk's face is unintentionally framed in shadow, suggesting he may have more to hide.
- Feet-First Introduction: How Mitre the scary guerilla dude is first shown as he enters the monastery, hunting for the girl.
- Friends All Along: When Aleksander meets Bojan, they approach each other like hostiles until they switch and hug each other.
- German Expressionism: Some of the more tense scenes in Eastern Europe certainly lapse into being influenced by this, with sharp angles and dark contrast, and light only coming through window segments. And really creaky doors.
- Go Out with a Smile: Aleksander notices the rain coming and then dies with a peaceful expression on his face.
- Grave-Marking Scene: Mitre goes to his parents' graves to tell them about his impending wedding.
- Hollywood Darkness: The scene with monks walking in a moonlit night early on was clearly shot during daytime with a filter.
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The three segments, which are simple nouns of ways to identify, as well as being connected to the characters in the segment ("Words" — the monk does not speak, "Faces" — they are photographers, "Pictures" — they carry the photos)
- In the Back: Both Zamira and Aleksander are killed with shots in the back.
- Jump Scare: There's a very quiet sequence of the young monk getting undressed (down to shorts and an undershirt), he then sits on his bed and suddenly jumps up screaming when he realizes he's sat on someone.
- Kids Are Cruel: The kids playing with the turtles set them inside a twig circle upside down so that they can't move, then set the twigs on fire and throw a box of bullets into it. Intercut with scenes of an Eastern Orthodox Christian ceremony.
- Long Last Look: When Kiril is sent away by the Armenians, he turns around and shares a long last look with Zamira.
- Love Dodecahedron: Anne is between her husband and Alex, whereas Alex is in love with Hana.
- The Mentor: One of the older monks is a charming grandfatherly figure, especially to the young monk in part 1. He's also a pretty cool Deadpan Snarker.
- Morning Sickness: Anne's offscreen vomitting on the toilet is an early indicator of her pregnancy.
- Onscreen Chapter Titles: Each of the three chapters is announced with a Title Card.
- Photos Lie: A lot of Aleksandar's guilt about the war/returning to North Macedonia is that whilst he was a war photographer he had offhandedly complained about not getting evocative photos, prompting a guard to shoot people to give Alex something to photograph.
- Redemption in the Rain: Rain comes down on Zamira after Aleksander dies.
- Scenery Porn: There are some beautiful shots, and one character even says to the young monk that he'd have also taken a vow of silence if not for needing words to comprehend the beauty of a particular view.
- Shout-Out: Some of the kids in the fields have attached sticks to the shells of live turtles and are play-fighting with them, calling them ninja turtles.
- Shower of Angst: Part 2 starts with Anne weeping in the shower. She's pregnant and not sure what to do.
- Ugly Slavic Women: A couple of old wrinkled women can be seen in the village.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: We never learn what happens to the young monk after he gets expelled from the monastery.
- Would Hurt a Child: The Armenian elder hits Zamira until she bleeds. Another man shoots her soon after In the Back.
