Before the Rains (2007)
Average Rating: 5.3/10
Reviews Counted: 67
Fresh: 33 | Rotten: 34
While lushly photographed and politically suggestive, this soapy melodrama lacks emotional resonance.
Average Rating: 5.2/10
Critic Reviews: 23
Fresh: 8 | Rotten: 15
While lushly photographed and politically suggestive, this soapy melodrama lacks emotional resonance.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.3/5
User Ratings: 1,598
My Rating
Movie Info
An Englishman intent on opening a spice plantation in Kerala attempts to gain the trust of the local villagers and destroys numerous lives in the process in this period drama from director/cinematographer Santosh Sivan. The year is 1937, and the power that the English wield over the citizens of India can be devastating even in the mildest of cases. Henry Moores (Linus Roache) is an entrepreneur and businessman who has singled out Kerala as the site where he plans to break ground on a potentially
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Cast
-
Linus Roache
Henry Moores -
Rahul Bose
T.K. -
Nandita Das
Sajani -
Jennifer Ehle
Laura -
John Standing
Humphries -
Lal Paull
Rajat -
Dr. Amikathmajan
Headmaster -
Indrajith
Manas -
Ejji K. Umamahesh
Inspector -
Thilakan
T.K.'s Father -
Lakshmi Krishnamoorthy
T.K.'s Mother -
Aadil Aswar
Boy 1 -
Ganapathi S. Poduval
Boy 2 -
Satheesh Poduval
The Kammadan -
Krishnan Potti
Village Chieftain -
Gopalakrishnan
Moores' Houseman -
Asharaf Moidu
Humphries' Driver -
Akhila
Village Girl -
Mani Kumaranalloor
Peacock Dancer -
-
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All Critics (70) | Top Critics (23) | Fresh (33) | Rotten (34) | DVD (3)
It's definitely good, definitely a little bit boring.
Top CriticIndia has rarely looked so beautiful onscreen. Against the anguish of his human characters, director Santosh Sivan juxtaposes a tranquil, green world in the hills of the southwestern state of Keralain 1937, 10 years before independence.
When the rains in Before the Rains finally arrive, there's nothing to cleanse, no real dirt to wash away -- not with history already so neatly packaged and polished to a dull shine.
It might have been more convincing if it had emphasized personalities rather than types.
Unfortunately, the parade of consequences brought on by the affair has little emotional substance.
Producer Ismail Merchant died in 2005, but Merchant Ivory's stuffy tradition of quality lives on.
If only the whole thing weren't so pretty.
Mechanical through and through.
Has the moral overtones of an EM Forster story, but is curiously lacking in emotional force.
While not without its merits (the performances of Jennifer Ehle and Rahul Bose are particular highlights), Before the Rains ultimately suffers from a downpour of melodrama.
The film certainly looks beautiful as it captures the lush beauty of its mountainous, green Indian landscape, but acclaimed cinematographer turned director Santosh Sivan is only partially successful when it comes to the storytelling
Exquisitely photographed but emotionally overwrought and ultimately tedious.
Here is a movie that the late Ismail Merchant would have been happy to have under the Merchant-Ivory banner. James Ivory is very much alive and working, and one assumes he approves as well.
An unremarkable story beautifully told, and should appeal to the legion of Merchant Ivory fans out there.
One of the most ravishing and breathtakingly beautiful films to come around in a long time.
...fails to deliver on the potentially intriguing premise of an interracial romance set in India in 1937, against the backdrop of the Indian independence movement
The movie has enough fine acting -- especially by Bose and by Jennifer Ehle as the planter's deceived wife -- and beautiful, razor-sharp cinematography (also by Sivan) to recommend it.
Acting honours go to Bose, his face an eloquently shifting register of shame, calculation and sympathy.
Audience Reviews for Before the Rains
Super Reviewer
If "Before the Rains" sounds as predictable and obvious as every other doomed romance you have ever heard of, you would be at least partially right.(What was it Anton Chekhov said about guns, again?) What separates this movie from others of its ilk is the lack of sympathy given to its lead English character who has no true regard for India which is also undergoing spasms of independence. That along with lush cinematography combine to provide a sincere feel for a time and place.
Super Reviewer
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Latest News on Before the Rains
May 8, 2008:
Santosh Sivan Goes Home Before the RainsFor Before the Rains, his English-language directorial debut, cinematographer Santosh Sivan went...
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