Before the Rain

I just watched the movie “Before the Rain” directed by Milcho Manchevski, a Macedonian film, 1994, which won tons of awards including a Academy Award nomination in ‘95 for Best Foreign Language Film.

I was really impressed. This is a movie more Americans need to see. Keeping in mind that it has an "R" rating, and is pretty graphic at times, it is thought provoking and very well done. It may be hard to find, but I encourage you to see it if you can. “Scarecrow video” in Seattle specializes in movies like this.

Of course I am feeling pretty naïve at this point about all of the politics and history involved in this region of former Yugoslavia. Pretty naïve indeed. We are encouraged not to talk about politics, at least until we have been here longer, have a better grasp of the language and are more familiar with the situation.

The tension between Albanians and Macedonians is omnipresent. There is a monument in the middle of my village to a single Macedonian soldier that was killed by an Albanian in the recent (2001) conflict. When I learned that, I got a little more insight into why there is a lot of anger and tension against Albanians.

There are no easy answers, there are no winners. Healing and closure feel like a long ways away.
Like right now, the fact that Macedonia is struggling with the current situation in Kosovo, which I don’t even really know much about other than the fact that Americans are strongly encouraged not to go there right now, and this country is also still bickering with Greece over their official name…Greece has issues with them using the name of Macedonia so, to placate their NATO neighbor, the country name is currently “Former Yugoslavic Republic of Macedonia”.

Of course I am forming my own opinions…however, I will not try to sway you, the reader, at this time. With the Peace Corps encouragement…I am still very much an observer, quietly listening and learning more about the history and politics before I tiptoe into politically heated debates and discussion.

In the meantime, go check out the movie “Before the Rain”…

P.S. There is a sequel as well, “Dust” (2001)