Film

What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases

Before the Rains (2007)

Director: Santosh Sivan

Time Out rating

Average user rating

2 reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

‘Before the Rains’ is a solid if unmemorable slice of culture-clash melodrama. Revisiting timeworn Merchant Ivory themes – forbidden love, cultural displacement and colonial misadventure – the film attempts to reflect the wider imperial conflict through a tightly focused story of one village and its strained relationship with its British overseers.

Linus Roache is understretched in the role of Moores, a spice planter locked in a turbulent affair with his housegirl. The more showy role goes to Rahul Bose as his disapproving manservant, TK, whose knowledge of his master’s indiscretions leads him into an ideological struggle between friendship and national identity.

The film’s main strength lies in the relationships between its characters – each make terrible but understandable decisions that lead to tragedy, but none ever appears as an outright villain. Only towards the end does this careful balance become unstuck, leading to a contrived finalé that wraps up the story without offering any satisfying emotional conclusions.

Author: Tom Huddleston

Time Out London Issue 1979, July 24 - 30, 2008

Email Tweet Share

User reviews of this film

usman khawaja said...

Posted on Jan 11 2009 07:33 atoning for the innocent pangs of love
SANTOSHSIVAN IS TODAY WHAT MIRA NAIR WAS A DECADE AGO-
HE IS INGENIOUS ,INFECTIOUSLY RISKY AND DELIGHTFULLY DEMURE IN HIS SUBTLE PARABLES ON INDIAN FABLES OF LOVE AND STRIFE PORTRAYED IN THE CONTEXT OF RACIAL AND SEXUAL INNUENDOES ,
ALL VERY SENSITIVE AND CONTROVERSIAL AS WELL AS CHALLENGING BUT IMMENSELY PROVOCATIVE AND ECSTATICALLY SATISFYING .
whether it is srk in ashoka or the female protagonist in the ground breaking Terrorist they have a passion for their beliefs and a penchant for life which is exuberant and semantic metaphors for contemporary themes though they are as old as the planetary existence itself.
kerala in 1937 was a hornets nest with the independence theme struggle immersed with interracial adultery and deception ,
love and guilt are replaced by lust and crime and racial bigotry drenched in colonialism is the ultimate metaphor for a cultural clash where marital disharmony is juxtaposed on adultery and surreal human behaviour emanating from egoistical desires which are primal yet controversial in the conservative perspectives -nandita das and linus roache are superb but it is rahul bose who steals the intelligent drama with his stoic ,languid but stupendous silence which can move mountains with his impassive face , .
they are all victims of circumstances but there are no martyrs or heroes here and the movie triumphs in portraying the human beings with their shame and flaws as we mortals were designed to be and that makes it immensely powerful and celebrated art .
kudos to santosh sivan and rahul bose for creating an intelligent movie in a year where a handful can be included in that rare category .
good job holden -i loved this flick -ta
- jbz7879

Report as inappropriate
Peter said...

Posted on Jul 31 2008 07:55 Santhos done a wonderful job..I give 4 out of 5 for this movie..The location Munnar n india ,,fantastic...i plan for a trip to munnar

Report as inappropriate