'Before the Rain' - After the war? (Milcho Manchevski)

The essay analyses the structure of Before the Rain and argues that its nar ration can be seen as a visual presentation of the problematic relationship between realism and temporality. The film is composed in a different way t han is conventional in mainstream filmmaking. Instead of letting the plot c oincide with the story in order to create realist diegesis that obeys chron ology, Before the Rain allows the plot to break up the chronology. The diff erence between this film and, for example, Saving Private Ryan, is that the latter attempts to create a realist diegesis in which the viewers perceive a dramatic event without reflecting the fact that they are watching a movi e, while in the former film the audience is made aware that it is watching a movie. The former film aims to visualize an existential problem, which th e latter one tries to suppress. This condition is underlined by the semi-ci rcular narration of the film.