Poster of Come and See

Come and See (1985)

Иди и смотри

The cruelest side of war.

1985-10-17 · Drama, History, Horror, War · 142 min

★ 8.2 (2020 votes)

Directed by Elem Klimov

Overview

The invasion of a village in Belarus by German forces sends young Flyora into the forest to join the weary Resistance fighters, against his family's wishes. There he meets a girl, Glasha, who accompanies him back to his village. On returning home, Flyora finds his family and fellow peasants massacred. His continued survival amidst the brutal debris of war becomes increasingly nightmarish, a battle between despair and hope.

Cast

  • Aleksei Kravchenko Aleksei Kravchenko Flyora Gayshun
  • Olga Mironova Olga Mironova Glasha
  • Liubomiras Laucevičius Liubomiras Laucevičius Kosach
  • Vladas Bagdonas Vladas Bagdonas Rubezh
  • Jüri Lumiste Jüri Lumiste Obersturmführer
  • Viktors Lorencs Viktors Lorencs Sturmbannführer
  • Kazimir Rabetsky Kazimir Rabetsky Village Headman
  • Yevgeni Tilicheyev Yevgeni Tilicheyev Gezhel
  • Aleksandr Berda Aleksandr Berda Chief of Staff of the Partisan Detachment
  • G. Velts Medical NCO
  • Viktor Vasiliev Viktor Vasiliev German
  • Igor Gnevashev Igor Gnevashev Jew
  • Vasiliy Domrachyov Vasiliy Domrachyov Little Policeman
  • Gennadiy Yelkin Flyora's friend
  • Evgeniy Kryzhanovskiy Evgeniy Kryzhanovskiy Partisan with Glasses
  • N. Lisichenok
  • Viktor Manaev Viktor Manaev Partisan
  • Takhir Matyullin Takhir Matyullin Elderly Partisan
  • Pyotr Merkuryev Pyotr Merkuryev Gleb Vasiliyevich
  • Valentin Mishatkin Policeman

Crew

Director
Elem Klimov
Director of Photography
Aleksey Rodionov
Editor
Valeriya Belova
Original Music Composer
Oleg Yanchenko
Writer
Ales Adamovich
Writer
Elem Klimov

Details

Budget
$5,000,000
Revenue
$20,929,648
IMDb
tt0091251
TMDB
25237

Keywords

  • atrocity
  • byelorussia
  • children in wartime
  • genocide
  • grimdark
  • horrors of war
  • insanity
  • mine field
  • nazi
  • premature aging
  • russian army
  • schocking
  • surrealism
  • teenage girl
  • war crimes
  • wehrmacht
  • world war ii

Videos

Reviews

CinemaSerf · ★ 7 · 2023-09-03

This has got to be the perfect antidote to the Hollywood treatment of a war film. It's bleak, grim and repulsive - and all in a great, intentional, cinematographic fashion. The thread centres around the young "Flyora" (a superb effort from Aleksey Kravchenko) who is taken from his Belorussian family farm at gunpoint (along with anything it's possible to eat) by the invading Nazi troops. What now ensues follows this young man as he escapes his captors, finds an old rifle and determines to join up with the communists who are fighting almost insurmountable odds to thwart their encroaching, heavily armed, foe. What really resonates here is the simplicity of the production. There are no specials effects, no CGI to create many when there are few - it tells the simplest of stories in a manner that is truly brutal at times, then truly evocative at others. Man's inhumanity to man and all that - but writ large and depicting an invading army devoid of any semblance of humanity on just about every level. The experiences of this young man are truly horrific, but the presentation here is not especially graphic - though it's not for the faint hearted. We are shown what is happening, but Elem Klimov leaves plenty of scope for our own imagination to augment, if that is actually possible, the true grotesqueness of war, of random killings and destruction and all quite possibly exacerbated by the fact that the conquerors had no real idea what they were doing, or why - the film almost imbues them with the characteristics of the wildest of animals who enjoy their regime of torture and malevolence for the sake of it. The ending has a certain degree of vindication about it - but oddly enough it's not especially satisfying. The emotional exhaustion of the viewer has long since set in, and the true fate of what I can only really call these uniformed bullies is just, yet somehow inadequate. The film is gently paced, it could almost be a video diary as young "Flyora" meets and hides from those he encounters and we share his fears and risks en route. This is really well worth a watch but it's not an easy one.

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