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BEFORE THE RAINS
Director: Santosh SivanCast: Linus Roache, Rahul Bose, Nandita Das, Jennifer Ehle
Run Time: 98 minutes
Country: USA
Language: English, Malayalam with English subtitles
Rating: PG (Violence)
Reviews: www.metacritic.com/film/titles/beforetherains
Official Site: www.beforetherains.netIn the south of India in 1937, an Englishman could have his way with the land, the workers and sometimes with the woman of his choosing. Such power could shatter lives, even when exercised by the mildest of men. Acclaimed director and cinematographer Santosh Sivan (Bride & Prejudice, The Mistress of Spices) explores this shock of collision between the forces of will and desire in colonial India in his new film, Before the Rains, which screened to popular acclaim at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival®.
Henry Moores (Linus Roache, Twelve and Holding, The Namesake) has big plans to establish a spice plantation in Kerala. But his plans require a new road to be cleared through the vast hills, and the money and manpower to do it. To secure the trust of the local villagers, he depends on his right-hand man, T.K. (Rahul Bose). To satisfy his baser needs, he depends on his lover – and house servant – Sajani. Played with fire and intelligence by Nandita Das, Sajani is an irresistible, quicksilver beauty. Their sojourn to collect honey in the forest turns into a charged erotic encounter, but they are witnessed by two local boys – and Sajani has a husband back in her village. How long will it be before her betrayal becomes known?
The risk escalates when Henry’s wife and son arrive from England. Domestic demands rein him in, but Sajani will not be cast aside so easily. Threatened with death in her own village, she presses T.K. for help and Henry for refuge. Henry cannot reveal his infidelity, so he does what any man in his position might have resorted to at the time. Can his power and privilege still protect him? A sweeping film full of striking vistas, Before the Rains has the look of a fine period epic, but as it binds its characters tighter and tighter within their dilemmas, it reveals the gears of a good film noir. Having made his reputation in Priest, Roache once again excels as a respectable man capable of catastrophic acts. Bose, however, as the local subaltern, is the heart of the film: here is the Indian man navigating all the harsh choices that came with colonization.
“Fatal culture clash, imperialist entitlement, forbidden passion between master and servant: the ingredients of the Indian director Santosh Sivan’s period piece Before the Rains may be awfully familiar, but the film lends them the force of tragedy.” - New York Times
“… Before the Rains is not some dreamy costume epic about the Raj (Roache's character, for example, is not at all sympathetic) and having an Indian director to tell this story gives it a whole new edge. Don't be deceived by pretty pictures. Before the Rains has a whiff of the thriller about it.” - Toronto Sun
