SUMMARY:
Black Rain: A Tale in Three Parts (1994),
dir. Milcho Manchevski
1.
(time
1.00) Graphic. “With a shriek birds
flee across the black sky, people are silent, my blood aches from
waiting.” First shot is a close-up of a
man’s hand picking tomatoes from a bush.
Wide shot of a young seminarian in Macedonia. Wide shot of the hillside garden. Chapel in the distance.
An old priest comes upon the young man.
Sound of thunder in the distance.
The seminarian does not speak.
His name is Kiril. They return
to the monastery. The old man is
fearful that the nearby war is getting close to them.
2.
(time
4:20) A scene of small children playing
with turtles (pretending the turtles are tanks) They set up t he turtles in a ring of branches. As the priest and Kiril walk past them, the
old man says, “Time never dies. The circle is not round.” The two approach the monastery. The old priest refers to Kiril’s vow of
silence.
3.
(time
5:00) Part I. The World. Inside the monastery. Time for prayers. Kiril devoutly gazes at the various icons inside. Intercut are shots of the children playing
in the circle of branches. They throw
rifle bullets into the fire, and the bullets fire off. The priests in the chapel respond fearfully. A night scene at the monastery. The
priests file back to the dormitory.
4.
(time
7.20) Kiril inside his room. Suddenly
he discovers a young woman is hiding in his room. Parallel cutting between the
two. Of course, Kiril does not speak. She is Albanian, a Muslim. He notices her bare foot, and she draws a
cover over it. She hides in the
corner. He leaves the room and goes to
the old priest’s door. But when the old
man answers the door, Kiril does not turn her in. The priest thinks Kiril wants a midnight stroll. Off they go. When Kiril returns, he has brought her tomatoes. He lies in his bed, she lies on the floor. She eats what he brought. He smiles.
She tells him her name is Zamira.
5.
(time
12.00) A funeral service. The mourners
are Eastern Orthodox. Some of the men
hold assault rifles. A mother
mourns. Music up. The men carry nationalistic battle
flags. Camera right. A lone woman, English, stands and watches
from the distance. Who is she? “Oh, my God,” she says. Quick shot of a young photographer snapping
a photograph of a tombstone. “Oh, my
God,” we hear the woman say again.
Suddenly we see Kiril running in the distance. He runs back to the chapel.
The others notice he is late. He
seems frightened, probably because he noticed the men with the guns.
6.
(time
15.00) The Macedonians come into the chapel and stop the prayers. The priests ignore them. Finally, they listen to the men, who want an
Albanian girl they traced to this monastery.
Of course, the priests know nothing of the girl and deny she is
there. The men appeal to the head
priest: “You are one of us. Remember
five centuries of Muslim rule. An eye
for an eye.” When they leave, the
priest asks everyone if he has seen the girl.
He asks Kiril—who denies he saw her.
7.
(time
18.30) The men remain at the compound.
They wish to search the compound.
The go up to Kiril’s floor, and he watches them, fearful. He closes his eyes. But they come down without her. She must have hidden somewhere else. He goes up to his room. It is torn apart. She is not there. The men
keep searching other rooms. Kiril comes
upon them in the priest’s room, and he sees a man with a gun at the
window. He pushes the man aside. The man with the gun then finishes what he
started. He saw a cat on the roof, and
he shoots it more than 50 times. The
leader of the group cuffs him for his stupidity. Kiril runs off and vomits.
8.
(time
22.16) The men keep searching. That
night they remain on the grounds of the compound. That night, Kiril thinks he sees Zamara standing in his
room. But when he wipes his eyes and
looks again, she is not there. He
sleeps again. He wakes up, and now she
stands before him. He smiles. She comes closer to him. He reaches out to take her hand. But she lies on the floor across from
him.
9.
(time
26.30) The next morning the priest comes in and finds the two together. “Shame on you,” he says. The young man packs and brings his bag down
to meet with the other priests. The old
priest embraces him. The head priest
brings the gill down. Then he slaps
Kiril and then embraces him. It is
clear now. “Good luck to you both.” They are to go away together.
10.
(time
29.20) The two sneak away past the men with guns.
11.
(time
31.15) The next day they are still walking through the mountains. Suddenly a group of men find them. It is her grandfather and her family. They all have guns. He beats her, and when she tells him the
young man loves her, he says, “We’ll see” and tells the boy to run off. Kiril hesitates, but then he leaves.
(35.00) But then she runs after
Kiril. Suddenly one of her cousins shoots
her in the back with a burst of automatic weapons fire. She drops to the ground and dies in a few
seconds. Kiril stays with her. He sits on the luggage and stays with
her. During this scene several small
children (ones we saw earlier) watch from a distance.
Part
Two. Faces.
12.
(time
36.50) A woman taking a shower. She is crying. This is the same woman we saw earlier--watching the funeral from
a distance. She works in a photo studio
in London. She examines some of the
photographs that show concentration camp victims in Bosnia. She gets a phone call from her doctor. She is pregnant. She looks through more photographs of victims of the war in the
former Yugoslavia. Then she vomits in
the bathroom—morning sickness. Suddenly
a bearded man energetically enters the studio.
13
(40.30) The young woman walks the busy streets of the city. She meets her mother, and the two seem
estranged. Her mother talks about her
husband. They stop at a church and
listen to a children’s choir practicing.
Suddenly we hear thunder. Then
the two women come upon Alex, the bearded man we saw entering the studio . Is
this the young woman’s husband?
Nope. After introductions,
Mother leaves. The young woman is Anne.
13.
(time
43.30) The two take a cab back to the
photo agency. He tells her he quit his
job. He is Macedonian. He wants to go back home. “It’s important to take sides,” she
says. “I don’t want to be on the same
side with any of them.” He recites the
litany of all of the war-torn places he has visited to take photographs. “I want a baby,” Anne says. “Look at your face. What happened to you?” “I aged.”
“In two weeks?” “I fucked up,”
he says. “I killed.” They embrace. He kisses her breasts. They embrace for a long time. He buries his head in her breasts, then on
her shoulder. Suddenly an old woman is
knocking at their window. “Is this cab
free?” They get out.
14.
(time
48.00) He shows her his plane tickets
to Macedonia. She tells him she can’t
come with him. Where does she have to
be? “Be patient with me,” Anne
says. “Have a good life.” He’s gone.
He hands her something. “Take
sides,” he says.
15.
(time
49.15) Anne is back in her studio.
While she talks on the phone, she examines photographs taken of Kiril
and Zamara. Suddenly she gets a phone
call for Alex. She takes the call. It’s Kiril.
But she has no idea who it is.
He asks for his uncle, Alex. He
tells her he is calling from Macedonia.
He hangs up. Cut to Alex waiting
for a cab. He sees writing on a brick
wall: “Time never dies. The circle is
not round.” He’s gone in the cab.
16.
(time
51.10) The young woman walks to a
restaurant to meet her husband. She
tells him she is pregnant. “Is it
mine?” She says it is. Apparently they are estranged. He apologizes for past behavior. A curious bearded man sitting nearby seems
to take an interest in them. Nick is
her husband. He orders some champagne. Meanwhile, behind them, the curious bearded
man is berating their waiter for something.
What? Apparently both are
immigrants, and their ethnicity is not evident. Suddenly the curious bearded man becomes more aggressive toward
the waiter. Somehow he has felt
slighted. He begins to throw money at
him. The manager comes out and asks the
waiter to leave, “and take your friend with you.” Suddenly the waiter strikes the curious bearded man, but then the
latter turns on him and beats him relentlessly. It takes several people to pull him off the waiter. Finally the curious bearded man leaves the
restaurant.
17.
(time
56.55) The manager tries to settle everyone down. Finally, the young woman gets out what she wants to say. “I want
a divorce!” He refers to her
relationship with Alex (“that photographer).
She says, “I don’t want you to forgive me about that!” He jumps up and begins to throw money down
on the table. But she makes him
stay. She takes his face in her
hands. “I still love you.” He begins to cry. “Just give us some time,” he pleads. Suddenly the crazed bearded man reenters the restaurant and
begins firing a handgun. He shoots
indiscriminately, and people fall to the floor and hide from the hail of
bullets. Finally she finds Nick. His face has been blown away by a direct
hit. “Your face,” she sobs.
Part
3. Pictures.
18.
(time
1.01.15) Shots of the mountains of
Macedonia. Then city scenes. Alex’s plane lands, and we see urban scenes,
then Alex on a bus heading into the country.
19.
(time
1.07.07) Alex arrives at his
hometown. An adolescent, one of the
guys we saw at the monastery, draws his automatic weapon and threatens Alex. So Alex takes his gun away. The kid follows him. He warns him that "“Uncle Mitre” will
be angry. Alex doesn’t care. Alex walks through the village. People evade him at every turn. He smiles.
20.
(time
10.55) Alex stands before his old house, his childhood home, and the one he
left 24 years ago. The building is shot
up and has been bombed out.
21.
(time
12.43) Butch Cassidy and the Sundance
Kid—Alex—as he rides his bike. A
three-year-old boy holds the automatic weapon and points it at Alex, but
fortunately does not fire it. Suddenly
a cousin finds him, and they embrace.
But here comes Mitre, the bearded leader of the pack that went hunting
for the young woman, Zamara.
22.
(time
14.50) Outdoor meal, a kind of reunion for Alex. Several old relatives have shown up. Alex mentions Hana, an old flame of his. But the cousin says, don’t bother with her. She’s Albanian. Another relatives say she is a widow now. The hatred of Albanians is palpable at this
table. Alex takes a picture of everyone
using his time delay.
23.
(time
17.10) Alex in bed. A young woman comes in and crawls in bed
with him. But she realizes he is still
dreaming of Hana. They lie side by
side. They chat amiably.
24.
(time
19.00) A UN vehicle pulls up in the countryside. Alex walks a narrow street in
a Muslim area. He is the stranger
here. Some men stop him from walking up
a narrow street. They don’t want him to
pass. He tells them he has come to see
Hana and has brought gifts. Hana’s
father comes down. They talk. Alex goes into the house.
25.
(time
22.28) This is the same man we saw
earlier—the grandfather of Zamara. They
sit in the house. Alex is waiting to
see Hana. Here she comes. She wears traditional Muslim covering. Her face is plain but attractive. In another room Zamara slips past, and we
can see her cousin next to her. Bu this
is the same cousin we saw earlier—and he shot Zamara in that early scene. Then the grandson comes into the room, but
he speaks ill of Alex. “He doesn’t
belong here. I’ll slit his
throat.” His grandfather tells him to
stop, but he won’t yield. Alex leaves.
26.
(time
26.10) Mitre and others at a tombstone in a cemetery high above the town. Who are they grieving? One of the men in
their family. Meanwhile, the young
woman from London tries to call Alex, but the operator in Macedonia does not
understand her.
27.
(time
28.35) Alex walking on the hillsides where sheep are grazing. He meets an old friend, a doctor, and they
talk about the old days and old conflicts.
28.
(time
31.42) Alex lies in bed. He writes a letter to Ann on his laptop computer. He tells her in the letter that he was
talking to a Serbian militiaman, and complained that he didn’t have much
action. So the militiaman took a
prisoner out of the line and shot him right in front of Alex. “Did you get that?” he asked. “I took sides. My camera killed a man,” Alex admits. Cut to the paper rolling up out of a FAX machine. Ann has the message back in London. (By the way, I’m writing this on a laptop
computer.) Suddenly we hear a woman’s
moan/scream. Cut to Alex waking up in
the middle of the night. Cut to the
hands of an old woman holding her cane.
More close-ups of townspeople.
Sounds of mourning.
29.
(time
33.38). Alex arrives at his cousins’
house. The man has been stabbed. Who did it?
Zamara. Why? Note how Alex is so drawn to the scene that
he mimics taking a photograph of it.
The man dies. The doctor and
Alex leave together.
30.
(time
35.20) The men set out and find each
other. Everyone has his weapon. What’s going on. They refer to the Albanian whore who killed the cousin with a
pitchfork. Let’s see. Why would she do that? Rape?
The men swear revenge. Mitre
hands Alex an automatic weapon and says, “Let’s collect five centuries of
blood.” Alex pushes the weapon away.
31.
(time
37.30) Alex and doctor have a chat.
“Where is the UN now?” Alex asks.
“Back next week, to bury the dead.
Have a nice war. Take
pictures.” Alex bemoans the old man’s
cynicism.
32.
(time
38.08) Alex asleep. He dreams that Hana has come to him. Later, he realizes she is there. Hana really is in the room. She is dressed in a man’s coat and wears a
head covering. She tells him the
missing girl is her daughter. This must
be the young woman we saw earlier—the same young woman we saw at the monastery
earlier. She pleads with him to help
the girl, “as if she were your own.”
33.
(time
41.10) Alex throws up in the bathroom.
Then he packs his bags. He looks
at the photographs he took of the man killed by the militiaman, and then he
rips up the pictures.
34.
(time
43.28) Alex walks across the hills. He
passes a wedding ceremony on the way to the sheepfold. When he arrives at the sheepfold, he finds
one of his cousins with the young girl.
Alex takes her away with him. He
tells the cousin, “Shame on you. She’s
only a girl.” He tells his cousin to
wait for the police and the law to decide what happened. But the cousin refers to a new way of life
here where they decide on justice by their own reckoning. “Live your own life,” he tells Alex. But Alex pushes him away with, “That’s why
I’m here. I couldn’t live with myself
if I let you do this.” He takes the
girl with him. “Alex, I’ll shoot,’ the cousin says. Mitre, Mr. Bigshot, stands next to the cousin and clearly urges
him on. But Alex keeps walking. “Shoot, cousin, shoot!” Alex says calmly. He
does. Then he shoots again, and this
time he hits Alex several times. Alex
tells the girl to run. The cousin
shoots at her, but he missies. Alex
finally drops. The cousin runs up the
hill toward him. Alex’s eyes are
open. The men kneel over him. They turn him over. “Look, it’s going to rain,” Alex says. We hear thunder. Alex dies. The girl
escapes.
35.
(time
48.40) The girl reaches the
monastery. It begins to rain. Later, cut to Kiril and the old priest at
the tomato patch. “It’s going to
rain. Time doesn’t wait, because the
circle is not round.” They walk away.
In the background the young girl runs toward them. Cut to close shot of Alex’s body. It rains. Cut to clouds in the sky, and then
a sunset image as credits begin.
Credits
1.50.50
Credits
end 1.53.50
Copyright,
Robert E. Yahnke, © 2001
Professor, General College, Univ. of Minnesota,
Reprinted by permission of the author
for educational use only