Come and See

Horrorphile

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Come and See

October 22nd 2010 02:01

“And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” --- Chapter 6, The Book of Revelation (The Apocalypse of St John the Divine), The New Testament

Without a doubt the most devastating and profoundly anti-war movie ever made, Elem Klimov’s semi-autobiographical account of a teenage boy unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly unequipped resistance movement against the ruthless Nazi fascist forces, witnessing scenes of abject horror, as he slowly loses his innocence, inexorably loses his mind, his face that of a frightened old man, his soul a ruined sentinel. Come and See is pure nightmare poetry.

Aleksey Kravchenko as Florya

Filmed in chronological order, Come and See (the literal Russian translation is Go and Look) follows adolescent Florya (Aleksey Kravchenko), a Belorussian villager, on a dark odyssey set in 1943. In the movie’s prologue he is fooling around with a young boy on the sand dunes, both pretending to be vigilant soldiers fending off the evil Germans. Florya uncovers a rifle amongst the military flotsam and jetsam, and this is the solid inspiration he needs to fulfill a staunch patriotic stance and join the Soviet partisan resistance. Later at his house with mother and two kid sisters the partisans arrive to collect him, much to the dismay of his mother who has already lost her husband.

Olga Mironova as Glasha

In a forest clearing Florya is integrated with the village comrades who have formed the small resistance, but his tattered boots result in him being left behind as a reserve. Disappointed Florya wanders off and meets Glasha (Olga Mironova), a pretty, slightly older girl, who appears touched, in love with a partisan commander. Florya and Glasha spend moments together, finding pockets of beauty and laughter amidst the trees and a light rain, but a sudden bombing destroys the brief tranquility, causing temporary deafness, and sends Florya and Glasha back to his family abode where true horror presents itself, and the two teenagers are forced to flee for their lives, through a hellish swamp, and into the midst of the terrorised survivors of the village. Florya’s interpersonal nightmare has only just begun …

The partisan resistance fighters gather for posterity

A moment of rainwashed beauty

Director Klimov wrote the powerful story many years before it was made. Taking inspiration from a novel called Story of Khatyn by Ales Adamovich, combined with his own wartime experiences, witnessing the atrocities of the Nazis, Klimov and Adamovich penned a screenplay titled Kill Hitler. They were forced by authorities to drop the Hitler reference, even though the intent of the title suggested one should kill a Hitler – demon - within you to prevent the worst. Taking their new title directly from The New Testament’s Book of Revelation, they fashioned an episodic journey of discovery, atrocity and genocide. The central character of Florya, who is in almost every scene, becomes a metaphorical vessel, the innocence that is blackened and defiled, left looking like a battered old man by story’s end. His character represents his entire people.

Come and See Aleksey Kravchenko and Olga Mironova

Crossing the river Styx

A partisan spit at the Nazis

Captured with astonishing realism, yet infused with touches of the surreal, director Klimov’s statement is without a doubt the most disturbing war movie ever made. It is also one of the most beautiful, and how it balances this contrast of aesthetics is brilliant. There is a streak of absurdist humour and clever use of irony that winks slyly at the audience from time to time, characters often talk directly to camera as they converse with each other, the moody ambient synthesizer score and the amazing use of Steadicam (which much of the movie was filmed with) add a curious modern sensibility, yet doesn’t feels incongruous. Come and See is state of the art filmmaking, yet is entirely unpretentious, never once projecting an ostentatious atmosphere with its production values. I should note that Klimov chose to shoot the movie in the contained 1.37:1 ratio, perhaps to heighten the period authenticity. Many of the uniforms were original, and (much to the horror of Hollywood) real ammunition was used in some scenes!

Nazi cruelty

Klimov doesn’t shy from the ghastliness of war; characters are blown to bloody bits, burnt beyond recognition, and in the movie’s most harrowing, and extended sequence, an entire village is forced into a wooden barn and burned alive as the Nazi soldiers and officers gather around and admire their handiwork like it's an amusing exhibition. Everything that happens on screen really occurred. 628 villages with all their inhabitants were burned to the ground. The Holocaust boggles the mind, and tears at the very core of humanity. In an interview Klimov states how the memory gene of that appalling horror has been carried through the generations of Belorussians, making shooting Come and See often difficult in relation to the actors having to act in the war crimes that destroyed their people.

Caught in the crossfire

In a scene near movie’s end Florya is approached by a young woman in a daze, who resembles Glasha who he'd left much earlier on with the other villagers. The woman’s lips are puffy, blood runs down her thighs, her eyes glazed. She had had managed to escape the burning barn with her baby only to be brutally gang raped and beaten terribly. To Florya (and to the audience) she represents the ruined beauty of love and life, as Glasha had told Florya of her desire to have children. The image is burnt onto the retina, just as the final moments of the movie are forever imprinted in the mind’s eye ...

Nazis pose for the archives

Florya sees a framed photo of Hitler lying in a muddy puddle, shortly after the resistance fighters have caught several Nazi officers trying to flee the scene of the barn burning. Florya takes his rifle and begins firing into the picture, and as he does so archival footage plays in reverse, regressing in time: corpses in the concentration camps, Hitler congratulating a German boy, 1930s Nazi party congresses, images of Hitler's combat service in WWI, images of Hitler as a schoolboy; and finally a picture of the infant Adolf in his mother's lap … Florya stares into the innocent face of the baby, then stares traumatised and lost into the camera and beyond ...

Florya mistakes a reunion with Glasha, but it's another woman, ravaged by the enemy

The performance of young Aleksey Kraychencko is nothing short of miraculous. But I tilt my helmet to Olga Mironova, and to the rest of the support cast, all of them delivering exceptional performances. Oleg Yanchenko’s stunning original music is integral to the movie’s intense atmosphere, and a few source pieces are used to superb effect; Strauss’s Blue Danube, Wagner’s Tannhäuser overture, and finally, hauntingly, the Lacrimosa from Mozart’s Requiem. It is as if the whole of Come and See is a monumental musical work, a series of funereal movements made with images and sound; a strange analogy, I know. But after viewing Come and See one is never the same. It is a masterpiece, a deeply-etched expressionist tour-de-force.

SS officers capture the moment

Elem Klimov never directed again. His work was done.

Once an innocent boy ...

This is the third in my three-movie series “Combat Shock”.

Here’s the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

12 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by David O'Connell

October 22nd 2010 02:48

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

You've just pulled a swifty on us Bryn - I may be exposing my ignorance here but I've never even heard of this!!

Certainly seems to share a passing resemblance to Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood but takes it all to far more extreme levels. Thanks for the education mate, sounds like stern stuff.

Comment by Bryn

October 22nd 2010 02:56

Horrorphile

David, when I asked if you could guess the third inclusion in my series with a couple of clues, I thought after you might guess it, but would probably say The Thin Red Line perhaps ... I'm amazed you hadn't heard of this. But then it's never been easily available. I had to get my first DVD of it from a Russian source, and the damn thing was unnecessarily split in half over two discs, I finally found another, and it too is from a Russian distribution company.
If you're not blown away by this movie, I'll eat my boots.

Comment by The Captain

October 22nd 2010 04:38

Nice work. Keep thinking cheerful thoughts!

Comment by Bryn

October 22nd 2010 05:45

Horrorphile

Captain ... yeah, it's one of those movies. But a long time coming.

Comment by Matt Shea

October 22nd 2010 05:55

Jeepers - I'd never heard of this either, Bryn. Sounds like fantastic stuff. I almost fell into your trap yesterday, figuring it would be The Thin Red Line. Consider me educated - great review.

Comment by Bryn

October 22nd 2010 06:05

Horrorphile

Hey Matt, I must say, I feel rather proud of myself, having pulled this sledgehammer out, swung it about, and hit several of my esteemed colleagues. I hope you can find a copy. You'll be a changed man.

Comment by ShaunK

October 22nd 2010 08:55

Screen Adventure

Fantastic work Bryn - I saw this grueling film many years ago and I can remember how tightly it held me by the throat. a thoroughly shocking war film.

Very confronting and undeniably powerful. I've never been able to locate a copy since, the cinematography is also brilliant.

Comment by Bryn

October 22nd 2010 09:06

Horrorphile

Thanks man! Yeah, it's very hard to come by, I believe there may be a Region 2 DVD floating around, or at least was a few years ago. Yes, the cinematography is amazing, in fact the entire production is amazing. Made in 1985, but looks as if it was made in the early 70s, yet of course, the Steadicam gives it away.

Comment by JohnDoe

October 26th 2010 18:53

Film & TV on DVD

Another fantastic review Bryn,

This is a film that certainly warrants more attention and never leaves you once witnessed.

Comment by Bryn

October 26th 2010 23:58

Horrorphile

Thanks JD ... Extraordinary filmmaking.

Comment by Gaelic Celt

December 29th 2010 16:40

Hi,
Just one observation about your synopsis is that I believe the girl that Florya meets when the partisans liberate the village is not Glasha, it's actually the girl that the nazis took away from the village and gang raped on the truck as they were leaving....