Before the Rain MPAA Rating: R Entertainment: +2 1/2 Content: -2

In a story about the ravages of civil war, BEFORE THE RAIN chronicles the lives of four people connected to a small village in Macedonia. Their lives change when the Muslim and Christian factions split and begin fighting. The film begins with Kiril (Gregoire Colin), a young Greek Orthodox priest, hiding a young Muslim girl accused of killing a Christian sheepherder. As they decide to flee together, the girl (Labina Mitevska) is killed by her own family for leaving. Aleksandar Kirkov (Rade Serbedzija), a famous London photographer, tries to help the girl too and is also killed by his family for helping a Muslim. Kirkov's mistress in London, Anne (Katrin Cartlidge), comes to the Macedonian village just as he is being buried, and so the circle of this film is complete. The basic message in this beautifully visual movie is that civil war is futile, resulting in those you love being killed. This bloody and somewhat depressing movie is not for everyone, but it does provide insight into the tensions behind the Bosnian/Serbian conflict.

The raging civil war accounts for much of this film's violence. The Muslim grandfather slaps his granddaughter many times in the face for being in the presence of a Christian man, and then her brother shoots her. A gunman in a restaurant kills several people, and blood is splattered everywhere. One man suffers severe blows to the head and stomach while another is kicked in the groin. Several sexually suggestive references between a married woman and her adulterous lover, as well as many obscenities, foul the dialogue which has English subtitles. While there is no sexual intercourse, a couple engage in heavy petting that includes breast nudity. This otherwise admirable anti-war film contains gratuitous obscenities, profanities and nudity.

Preview Reviewer: Greg Wilson
Distributor: Gramercy Pictures, 9247 Alden Dr., Beverly Hills, CA 90210