Time doesn't wait and the circle isn't round

The title of this post, which is also a tagline for the film, help explain away one of the biggest criticism's of Milcho Manchevski's “Before the Rain.” The plot twists can't actually work in a linear time frame, but the story is better told by appealing to the tradition of suspension of disbelief.

Buying into that loophole to get to the meat of the story is ultimately the reason why I have to say I enjoyed the movie - despite it's often overwrought qualities.

From my perspective, there are several ways to look at this film: as a social commentary, as a story and as a film.

As a social commentary, “Before the Rain” absolutely deserved all of the awards and attention it received.

What better way to illustrate a bloody, ancient conflict than to boil it down into family units and personal struggles. By showing the demons between people who are close, it makes it easier to understand how ethnic battles can escalate quickly.

In his March 10, 1995 review in the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert laments that the North American media hasn't done a great job of explaining exactly what has been going on in the Balkans. He boils down the average thought by saying "They are basically all a lot of people who hate each other, and the United Nations can't do anything about it." OK. Maybe that's oversimplifying slightly, but it wasn't far from the perceived truth.

The struggle did tear apart villages and families. And as Aleksandar says that he had to take sides, The theme of “taking sides” emerges in almost every story line. The Macedonians and the Albanians is the overriding struggle, but in so many ways, it works as a more intimate story between people. Aleksandar has to choose “sides” when dealing with Anne, Hana, his family, Samira and even his own beliefs. At the very beginning of the film, Kiril must choose between his priestly life and his country and protecting Zamira. Hana has to choose between her affection for Aleksandar and the safety of her children.

As a story, the three parallel parts are a clever way to dramatize the events. The mystery certainly holds the interest of viewers. I agreed with Variety's Sept. 7, 1994 review by Deborah Young that the movie, "owes part of its disturbing magic to its challenging structure."

As a film, I have a couple of complaints that contradict what seemed to be conventional wisdom at the time. In that same review, Young says there are "high production values." Maybe in the context that they were in the middle of nowhere, but there are several directorial selections that took away from the simple message of the story. The shooting of the cat scene was WAY over the top. At some point, it pushed past shocking and ventured toward the seam of ridiculous. I felt the same way about the level of gratuitous shooting in the restaurant scene.

There is a shooting star put into the back night sky at one point when Kiril is returning back to the monastery from the funeral. It was a forced entry. When John Simon wrote on April 3, 1995 in the National Review of the "pretentiously artsy concoction" of a movie, I think these are the kinds of things he's talking about.

I also agreed with Simon that with the exception of Aleksandar, the movie "fails to create rounded believable characters." I didn't really care much about the characters as people. Perhaps it is just that the chronology interrupted that facet of the film.

Overall, "Before the Rain" accomplishes what I think it set out to do: offer a window in an often misunderstood world filled with unbearable violence.

***

Popcorn tidbits:

* As Aleksandar is riding his bike up the hill after being home for a day, he is singing "Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head."

* There are two repetitions that are made for effect in Parts 1 and 2, but I couldn't find in "Words." I previously mentioned the Beastie Boys song in my discussion post, but there is also a turtle in both scenes.

* The line about "War is a virus" comes from a medical doctor.