The helplessness of the widowed people in a small country

Conner 2022-04-21 09:03:04

The small country of Macedonia (the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) in the film declared its independence in 1991 with about 30 percent of its Muslim population. Then the former Yugoslav republics began civil wars, and Macedonian leaders, fearing a Serbian attack, invited the United Nations to send them a peacekeeping force. The United Nations peacekeeping force appears in the film, and the time of the story can be roughly estimated based on this. The majority of Macedonian ethnic groups believe in Catholicism, while Albanians mainly believe in Islam. There is a reflection in the first story at the beginning. The Albanian fertility rate is very high, and at a party for male photographers returning home from London (circa 1992), the crowd was already complaining. In 1999, when Kosovo was about to become independent, it started fighting with the Serbs. The Albanians in Kosovo became refugees due to the war. Of course, nearby Macedonia became the preferred destination, and 360,000 Albanians poured in all at once. The population of Macedonia is only 2 million, of which there are 510,000 Albanians. Coupled with the fact that the Albanians in Macedonia resisted the census, the actual proportion of Muslims should have accounted for the majority of the population. The trouble is among the refugees, including the Kosovo Liberation Army. Due to the NATO air raid on the Yugoslavia in 1999, Kosovo gained de facto independence, and the Kosovo Liberation Army, which aimed to seek Kosovo independence, had no reason to exist and was disbanded. , provoked a civil war in 2001 and sought the status of the common main ethnic group of the Albanians in Macedonia. If you ask the director what to do with this kind of conflict, I think you should hire another person, because the director doesn't know what to do. The theme of racial conflict must have depth, and the film critics will like it, but I still can't give a full five-star evaluation, because as far as I know, the civil war in the former Yugoslavia is obviously more cruel. Religious and racial issues are actually more serious.

View more about Before the Rain reviews

Extended Reading

Before the Rain quotes

  • Father Marko: I wanted to take a vow of silence, like you. But this heavenly beauty merits words.

  • Aleksander: With a shriek, birds flee across the black sky, people are silent, my blood aches from waiting.