Before The Rain Analysis

   

   You often hear about the ingenious use of a non-linear narrative in Quentin Tarantino's works. Though excellent films in their own rights, Tarantino's films still follow a Hollywoodian structure; that is that there is always a beginning and an end to their narratives. Macedonian director Milcho Manchevski's 1994 film Before The Rain is the one film that I am willing to say has the oddest structure that I've come across in cinema. Mulholland Drive may bear deep surrealism and Pulp Fiction may be told in a non-sequential order, but Before The Rain's narrative structure does not require surrealism or a non-linear style to be understood. In effect, the film has no beginning or end. As the quote in the film states "the circle is not round."

     At first, you will find yourself organizing the film in the correct order and the puzzle nearly fits. However, upon closer inspection, there seems to be certain things that don't quite fit within the film's timeline. One example would be the fact that Anne notices a picture of Zamira and Kiril after Zamira's death. When somebody, whom we presume to be Kiril, calls asking to speak to Alexander, Anne replies that he's left. But if Zamira was dead before Aleksander reached Macedonia, how then did they meet and he saved her life? And Kiril does not seem to have met Aleksander, so why would he be calling him? The film had us assume that Aleksander took the pictures but that does not seem to be the case since Aleksander would have died prior to that. I noticed little things like that and it really racked my brain as to how to properly organize the film and whether it requires organizing.
   Another thing that I noticed was a sort of rap song that played on two different radios/talkies. In a scene where Anne has just finished talking to Aleksander, a girl walks by around the 7:20 mark listening to that rap song. The song appears diegetic at first, but in the next scene where Anne is looking at the photos of the dead Zamira, it does not appear to be.

That same song plays in a radio in a scene before Aleksander rescues Zamira from his cousin's clutches at the 0:45 mark. 

What is the significance of that song and how it relates to the cyclical nature of this story? I'm not quite sure. What I am quite sure, however, is that the director Manchevski used this narrative structure to highlight the unending cycle of violence, especially as relating to the Balkan/Macedonian conflict.
   As far as the visuals are concerned, the film seems to be more visually enriched and beautiful in the scenes set in Macedonia. This creates an odd contrast to the violence and killings present in Macedonia.
   Furthermore, the director's quote about how we are not trapped by time is a thing of beauty. It appears that we are not trapped by time but by the virus of war (another saying from the film). In the film, it seems Manchevski champions intercultural relationships. Aleksander being in love with Hana (a true Romeo and Juliet storyline) and quite possibly being the father of Zamira. As Hana says "You just watch her as if she were yours." In another timeline, Zamira very well could have been Aleksander's. Another example of Manchevski's championing intercultural relationships is the story of Kiril and Zamira (another star-crossed storyline). In each storyline, violence is what puts an end to hopes and possibilities. It is violence that kills the future. Violence and war infect time itself.