Too much of everything

Great Film overall

Good concept, poorly executed.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

This is a powerful movie about the circle of conflict, coming from the authentic Balkan region that is troubled by these issues for ages. It gives you the perspective on these themes in a great, artistic and sincere way. Highly recommended.

When I watched Milcho Manchevski's "Before the Rain", I thought that it ended awkwardly: it seemed that the segments weren't fully tied together. But I understand that the idea is that they could be in any order, confirming the spray-painted phrase "the circle is not round": the overshadowing scenarios go backward and forward in a cycle. The cycle here is political turbulence and fated relationships.I don't know if I would go so far as to call the movie one of the greatest ever made, but it still hits you like a kick in the gut. I recommend it. Outstanding performances from Katrin Cartlidge (the reporter in "No Man's Land"), Rade Šerbedžija (one of the gangsters in "Snatch") and Phyllida Law (Emma Thompson's mother).Another good movie from Milcho Manchevski is "The Great Water", about an orphanage in post-WWII Macedonia.

A recent trend in films is to present plots non-sequentially. This isn't done all the time, of course, but this radical way of constructing a plot have simply been overused in recent years. For me, the novelty has definitely worn off. Because of that, I wasn't as impressed with "Before the Rain" and many other reviewers.This film consists of three stories--all which relate to Macedonia and ethnic violence. However, while at first the three stories only seem to have this as the common thread, some of the characters also appear in multiple stories--making one larger story about hatred and ethnic violence. Story 1 is about an Albanian woman who is being sought by Christian Macedonians--and she's being sheltered by a monk who has taken a vow of silence.Story 2 is about a pregnant Brit whose lover is Macedonian. He has been living abroad for many years but leaves to go back--and leaves her behind pregnant. When she meets her husband to ask for a divorce, BAD things happen somewhat out of the blue.Story 3 shows the man in 2 in Macedonia and his return isn't as happy as he'd hoped.Each story is well done and interesting. The acting and direction are also quite nice. But as I indicated above, I am personally tiring of non-sequential films and the novelty has worn off for me. Well done but I am not in love with the film.

This movie is incredibly powerful. For anyone who has studied Eastern European history this movie brings the Muslim-Christian relations and tensions into reality. WARNING: If you like movies to neatly tie up all loose ends by the the end, this movie is not for you! Just as the quote says, "Time never dies: The circle is not round," the movie leaves you with a lot of confusion and questions about the plot, but the message is no less incredible. If you like history then this movie is for you. I watched it for the first time in 10th grade in my AP European History class and it made an incredible impact on the way I thought about religious relations in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.Awesome movie that I highly recommend!