BEFORE THE RAIN

In a world stricken with conflict. nowhere is the blood hatred more virulent than in what was once Yugoslavia. And this film, the Oscar-nominated debut of director Milcho Manchevski, is a tour-de-force examination of its nature and destructiveness. BEFORE THE RAIN is a triptych-each segment a love story exploring basic choices people much make while dealing with a volatile reality. In the dark sombre confines of a Macedonian monastery, a young girl seeks refuge from the gunmen who are looking for her. In London, a woman leaves her husband while dealing with the reapperance of her lover, a Macedonian photographer who has just returned from Bosnia. Back in Macedonia, the photographer reutuns home to be confronted with the divisions besetting his community . Yet a simple description doesn;t do justice to the enormous intercacy of this work. It is not just a passionate story but also a superlative and engrossing pictorial of modern Europe, one which offers a unique perspective on the Balkans and the conflicts that plague them.