Focused on a friendship between the ruling class and the natives of a colony, Before the Rains is set in Kerala, India in the 1930s and tells how a tragic relationship turns out unexpectedly. Neelan helps his generous boss, Henry Moores to build a farmstead but their efforts to make the community more bountiful gets crushed by the reality of colonized India. Moores′ affair with his Indian Housemaid Sajani forced their life into the depths of misery, and Moores, Sagani and Neelan all realize the thick wall between the ruling class and the subjects they cannot cross over. Before the Rains explores the turmoil of a man who is torn between two worlds and the choice he makes to gain his own freedom and embrace his true identity; it is much more than just a love story between an Asian and a Westerner. You can fell the intensity of the sad and twisted destiny - as intense as the humid weather of Kerala. Funded by the US and UK, this brilliant director from India ended this film with a tragedy that is universal and also surrounded local air. (KIM Young-Jin)