A three-part drama which alternates between London and Macedonia. In Part 1, "Words," a young Macedonian monk protects a runaway Albanian girl. In Part 2, "Faces," focuses on a love affair in London. Part 3, "Pictures" is set back in Macedonia where a bloody ethnic conflict is brewing.

Shot in Macedonia and London, "Before the Rain" is a haunting study of war and its tragic consequences -- especially when the fighting occurs between neighbors.
Divided into three sections, the connection between seemingly disparate events and people only becomes clear at the film's end. In "Words," a pure and innocent Macedonian monk breaks his vows in order to hide an Albanian girl accused of murder. "Faces" dramatizes an Englishwoman's struggle to choose between her husband and her lover, a Pulitzer Prize-winning war photographer who is about to return to his native Macedonia. And "Pictures," the final segment, follows the photographer as he tries to comprehend the violence and bloodshed that have so transformed his nation's landscape and turned one-time friends into bitter enemies.

Produced by Aim Productions (UK), Noë Productions (France), Vardar Films & the Ministry of Culture for the Republic of Macedonia, and PolyGram Audiovisual.

Filmed in Technovision widescreen; in Eastman color, on location in London, England and Macedonia.

Rated BBFC 15 by the British Board of Film Classification.

Copyright 1994 Aim Productions, Ltd., Noë Productions, and Vardar Films.

DVD Features:

Keep Case
Anamorphic Widescreen - 1.78
Full Frame - 1.33
Audio:
Dolby Digital Stereo - Albanian, English, Macedonian, Serbian
Subtitles - English - Optional
Additional Release Material:
Interviews: Rade Serbedzija - Actor
Trailers: Theatrical Trailer
Audio Commentary:
1. Milcho Manchevski - Director
2. Annette Insdorf - Film Critic
Text/Photo Galleries:
Essay: Ian Christie - Film Scholar
Photo Galleries: Stills Galleries of Manchevski's Photographs and On-Set Shots

Rade Serbedzija: Yugoslav Actor, EYES WIDE SHUT, SNATCH
Katrin Cartlidge: British Actress, NAKED (1993), BREAKING THE WAVES (1996)
Gregoire Colin: French Actor

Milcho Manchevski: Director/Screenwriter

"...Mr. Manchevski tells his story elegantly and leaves his audience with a warning too strong to be ignored..."
"...A guarantee: It will haunt you for days..."
"...[The film's] separate stories do have collective power..."
"...A revealing essay on gender and war....A film full of loaded symbolism..."
"...Manchevski is astute in letting the landscape figure so massively in his movie....Rade Serbedzija is a powerful presence..."
"...Powerful, poetic, harrowing drama....Leav[es] a viewer stricken." -- Rating: A
"...Manchevski succeeds on a grand scale with a groundbreaking film of love and war..."