Overview
A haunting exploration of love and conflict set against the backdrop of war.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Brutal
- melancholic
- foreboding
- intimate
- serious film night
- arthouse cinema viewing
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as a visually striking and narratively inventive Macedonian war drama, while debating its construction of the Balkan gaze.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The film divides its portrait of conflict into three linked stories whose circular arrangement emphasizes repetition and inevitability.
The film's Macedonian conflict is framed through both local experience and a British photographer's perspective, inviting scrutiny of Western expectations about the Balkans.
Orthodox Christian, Albanian, and Macedonian characters are trapped within escalating ethnic and religious hostility that predates their immediate choices.
Mountain and rural imagery presents an endangered pastoral innocence beside armed hatred and communal danger.
Films like Before the Rain, and why
Rashomon
shared triptych structure, ethnic conflict, melancholic tone, and morally complex portrait of violence
Underground
shared Balkan setting, war trauma, dark irony, and cyclical violence
The English Patient
shared international art-house drama, romantic entanglement, and the futility of armed conflict
Hiroshima mon amour
shared fragmented storytelling, war photography, and intimate human consequences of geopolitical violence
Movie Details
- Director
- Milcho Manchevski
- Release Date
- 1994-06-09
- Runtime
- 113 min
- Rating
- 7.4 / 10 (193)
Cast
- Katrin Cartlidge
- Rade Šerbedžija
- Grégoire Colin
- Labina Mitevska
- Phyllida Law
- Silvija Stojanovska
- Jay Villiers
- Josif Josifovski
- Kiril Ristoski
- Petar Mirčevski
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Before the Rain about?
- Three interlocking stories expose how ethnic hatred and romantic loyalty become caught in an apparently endless Balkan cycle of violence.
- What is Before the Rain like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Before the Rain as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Before the Rain violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Before the Rain as brutal.
- What did critics think of Before the Rain?
- Critics broadly regard the film as a visually striking and narratively inventive Macedonian war drama, while debating its construction of the Balkan gaze.
- Which films are like Before the Rain?
- Films with a similar feel include Rashomon, Underground, The English Patient, and Hiroshima mon amour.
- How long is Before the Rain?
- Before the Rain runs 113 minutes.
- Where can I watch Before the Rain?
- In United States, Before the Rain streams on Criterion Channel.
