Review #11 – Before the Rains

Saturday, Cinema CNC showed Before the Rains to an appreciative audience; both the filmmaking and the subject matter is impressive here. Santosh Sivan sets this film in his native Kerala, in south India, highlighting the intense beauty of the landscape in a manner befitting the Merchant Ivory label on this work.

Sivan is an accomplished director, most notably of 1999's The Terrorist, as well as a seasoned cinematographer, with 38 film credits, including Bride and Prejudice and the Mistress of Spices. His camerawork chops are showcased in Before the Rains; this is a beautiful film, with the expected sweeping landscape shots, but Sivan also has a subtle touch: the interior shots are nicely composed and his camera helps tell the story... sometimes a little heavyhandedly, as in a lingering close-up of a gun near the beginning of the film [you just know that someone's going to get it... you are merely waiting to find out who], but usually with subtlety, as in a look through a bloodstained window, as a character recognizes the importance of this stain [after the gun comes back into play... not a spoiler; just a fact].

Thematically, this film packs a punch... we are introduced to Henry [Linus Roache] and Sajani [Nandita Das] at a moment of playful flirtation. It becomes increasingly apparent that they are lovers and that their love is forbidden, both by the cultural and social divide [he's English and an imperialist landowner... she's Indian and his maid] and by the fact that they are both married: he to Laura [Jennifer Ehle], to whom he seems to feel socially inferior; she to Rajat [Lal Paul], who despite being a brute apparently loves her. The man caught up between the two cultures depicted [and quite literally in the middle of the mess created] is T.K. Neelan [Rahul Bose] the one completely sympathetic, but ultimately doomed, character in this drama. Henry is a cad; we start out cheering for him, but his true colours come to the surface soon enough. Sajani is tragically foolish. Laura is too cool as a character and too associated with the benefits of imperialism to elicit much sympathy. T.K. has been to the English school and sees that the way to get ahead is to put his lot in with the overlords; his timing couldn't be worse, considering the emerging nationalist movement in India, and we all know how that works out... don't we? [if not, see Ben Kingsley's depiction in Gandhi].

A central conflict in the movie is the completion of the road which will enable Henry to expand his tea empire into spices; this gives the title to the movie, as it must be finished before the monsoon season, or it will be washed away. The potential folly of this effort mirrors the whole British adventure in India, microcosmically represented in the relationships depicted in Before the Rains. This film transcends the overworked conventions of an anti-colonialism morality tale with a plot twist that shifts the focus to an ethical question that might just serve to destroy everyone involved. I really want to tell you what it is, but etiquette dictates that I exercise reserve.

This film was adapted from an earlier, Israeli effort by Dan Verete, called Asphalt Zahov [Yellow Asphalt]. I am not sure exactly how this transfiguration happened or how it works, but after reading the description for Verete's film, I am quite intrigued. I will try to see it and report back to you. If anybody has seen Asphalt Zahov, leave me a note, please.

A final note to suggest to you that you see Before the Rains; it is worth a look.