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Directed by: Elem Klimov Starring: Alexei Kravchenko Come and See is one of those special films that you'll either love or hate, with very little room in between for anything else. Set in Byelorussia in the summer of 1942, it follows the experiences of Florya, a thirteen-year-old peasant boy who joins the partisans in the wake of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Shot on location in Byelorussia and based in large part on the experiences of those who lived through it, Come and See makes for painful viewing. This is without a doubt a very brutal, brutalising experience. In the course of the film Florya changes from a happy, smiling kid into a shattered, numbed wreck, and he visibly ages as a result of what he witnesses. Short on the sort of set-piece battles that Western audiences have become accustomed to, the film instead shows atrocities galore, combining to reduce the viewer to the same kind of shell-shocked apathy as Florya. With deaths by landmine, machine-gun, flamethrower, grenade and bullet, this is also possibly the first film in which the Einsatzkommandos (the SS death squads of the Russian Front) have had a "fair" representation. Come and See's biggest problem is that it was made in 1985 in a recognisably 'Russian style', complete with the sort of interminable close-ups of the cast's faces as their expressions change that make you wonder if the director was more used to making silent movies. It's like a horribly violent version of 'Battleship Potemkin'. As a side note, it's also worth knowing that the director, Elem Klimov, was certifiably nuts. In order to get the best possible realism, he issued his actors and pyrotechnics people with live ammunition. You read that right. The Waffen-SS and the Soviet partisans in this film fire real guns with real bullets, a concession to accuracy that you'd never see over here. The flamethrowers are real too. That nobody got killed making this movie is a miracle in itself. To sum it up, Come and See is unflinchlingly violent, brutal and realistic, but at the same time, it's boring, overdone and propagandistic. This is total war as seen through the eyes of a peasant, and Alexei Kravchenko's performance, as Florya mentally disintegrates, is riveting - but at the same time you'll find yourself reaching for the fast-forward button to get to the "good" bits. RATING: 3.5 PROS: About as realistic as you'll ever see the Eastern Front portrayed CONS: Soviet cinema as you've come to know, love and, in places, sleep through ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091251/
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# ? Jun 17, 2006 21:38 |
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# ? Apr 17, 2024 22:55 |
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This was one of the more unsettling films I have ever watched. From the beginning sequences to the bombing of the Russian camp (which leaves Florya partially deafened, as evidenced by a constant ringing throughout the next third of the film) to the brutal finale, I was sitting uncomfortably, trying to get a grip on what I was seeing. If you are a fan of either soviet cinema or horrific war films, go ahead and check this one out as its worth a viewing, otherwise stay far away. Come and See is no popcorn flick or date movie. If you want a soviet WW2 film that is more approachable, try the Cranes are Flying, its narrative is far more enjoyable. Pros: Realistic and sobering. Makes you glad that you aren't in the midst of a total war. Cons: Very slow, as the OP mentioned, and pretty horrific throughout. The combination of the two makes this movie impossible to watch for fun. 4/5 Because I liked it, but man I don't ever want to watch it again
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# ? Jun 20, 2006 01:15 |
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Just a side note, one really cool bit of trivia about this film is that the director shot the whole movie in sequence, in order. This was to help Alexei Kravchenko in his portrayal of Florya, to make the transitions easier for him ("a happy, smiling kid into a shattered, numbed wreck"). The film obviously cost more money because of this, but I just thought it was a really cool thing the director did to make the movie as good as it could be, and easier for the young child actor to play his part. As for my review, I loved the film, but it was a very depressing one. It was very realistic, and very brutal, and you feel emotionally drained after watching it. It is probably the most realistic portrayal of the "behind-the-front-lines" stuff that happened on the Russian Front, ever.
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# ? Jun 22, 2006 19:45 |