"Come and See" has to be one of the most powerful war movies ever made.It left me emotionally drained.The film tells the story of 12-year-old Florya(Alexi Kravchenko),whose desire is to join his countrymen in the battle against the fascists.His enthusiasm is written all over his face:in the opening scenes,which show Florya's recruitment by partisan soldiers,he wears the blissed-out smile of a hopeful child.After a bombardment,which leaves him temporarily deaf,he is left behind and stumbles across Glasha(Olga Mironova),who has also been abandoned.Together they return to his village, the atrocities witnessed there anticipating horrors to come."Come and See" is a deeply unsettling film.It's hallucinatory,hellish,traumatizing and uncompromising.There's an aura of profound sadness here,as Florya ages dramatically over the course of the story's events.The film's most disturbing sequence revolves around the raising of one village and the slaughter of most of its inhabitants.The acting is excellent,the cinematography is stunning and the use of Mozart on the soundtrack is particularly effective.10 out of 10.A must-see!

This film was no fun to watch, nor should it have been considering it is about the Nazi atrocities in Belarus during WWII--as seen through the eyes of a young recruit for the partisans. This young boy appears to be about 12 or maybe 13, though through the course of the film, he ages what appears to be many years, though the action that occurs seemed to take place over just a few days. The movie was a solid recreation of the horrors and is good because it makes the faces and lives affected by this sick war so very real. Because of its content, it is not a film for children, though it probably is okay for teens provided you discuss the movie with them afterwards. No serious complaints about the movie at all, though it would have been nice if the German planes they used in the film weren't the same FW-189 reconnaissance aircraft over and over again--but this is the most minor of complaints--it was a great picture overall.

"Idi i smotri" or "Come and See" is a Soviet movie from 1985 (looks newer),so this one came out when I was not even a year old. It is mostly in the Russian language, but as it is set in Belarus and elaborates crucially on the country''s history during World War II, there are also parts in Belarussian and German of course and not just one or two sentences, which caught my attention especially because I am from Germany. Now as for this film, there are apparently two different versions in existence: first the standard version that runs for over 2 hours and 20 minutes and then there is a strongly cut version that runs for 1 hour and 45 minutes, so over 35 minutes shorter, but even if this film includes moments of utter violence, they must have cut out considerably more if they are taking away over half an hour. I have seen the long version today at a movie theater, so I cannot say what is missing in the shorter version. So you see this film is still somewhat known (and rightfully so) if it is shown in German movie theaters and not just once or twice, but for several weeks apparently, which may have to do with the 35th anniversary for this one. The director is Elem Klimov and he is also one of the two writers. He was around the age of 50 when he made this movie, so not too old and yet this was his final career effort. He lived on for almost 20 years, but never directed another movie. Many film directors peak early, sometimes never reach the level of their breakthrough film again, but Klimov is the exact opposite. This final career effort we have here is still his most known work apparently. Now I do not want to talk about the cast in detail really because I am not an expert on Soviet films or actors, but the incredibly strong child actor Aleksey Kravchenko, who you can see on the photo, is still active in movies today, still acts, and he turned 50 last year. It seems that this film we have here is also still his most known work as of now and will most likely stay the film that people will always remember him for.

Now, there is so much I would like to say about this film and story. It needed a little while to really draw me in, but when it did, it did incredibly well. You should also follow the really harmless title advice here and come and see this film, even if it is a hauntingly heartbreaking experience at times. I think I will just do a little brainstorming on this one, which is now my favorite film from the year 1985. There is still a lot to see for me from this year, but nonetheless it means a lot as I have also seen more than two or three films from that year. But let's not get carried away. The scene or sequence where it really dragged me in is the one after he meets the girl and they go to the swamps and we find out that his entire family is killed: his mother and her two twin daughters. Pay attention to how war is too depressing and the officer's attempts to cheer up the girls stay unsuccessful. Instead, they begin to cry. We meet those three (mother and sisters),we don't see their corpses in the end, but know they are dead, most likely next to the house with the others. Does the boy know right away, but is in denial? Probably so. This scene in the swamps is really haunting. Up above them we see the dangerous plane who is constantly there and then we see the two kids with dirty faces and clothes. Can they find the others? Not a chance. The consequence, on the contrary, is that an attack takes place and the boy loses his ability to hear. So there is also a great deal of physical damage, injury that must not always result into death. But sometimes it does. We see the guy who at the very beginning said the kids must not dig and I wondered what was up with this scene, but when we see him again with his skin entirely burned and close to death we understand it is him. Early on, the kid (was it the protagonist in young?) is also joking around and acting as if his voice sounds different. Almost sounded evil like from "The Exorcist" when he says something about another character's mother. Anyway, there are some light moments in here too, but very rare. Just mentioned one. Another would be when we have two characters joke about the people from up there throwing down their bottles, basically returning them. And then there is the moment when the boy and girl meet and they go from crying to laughing. Maybe it was a bit of "Galgenhumor" (gallows humor) as we say in Germany, but still the Rosa/Kolchosa rhyme was as light as it gets for this film. Pay attention to how death is always a companion for the young man. Be it the guy I just mentioned with his skin burnt, be it the man with whom he steals the cow (almost looked like a laser show),be it the cow itself (with the sounds of suffering) etc. - there's constantly creatures dying near him. Animals are used in this film on several occasions too. The big cow may be the best example, but there are several other animals. One gets tortured in the end and the boy accidentally steps on the eggs early on. We have something like a stork later on, but it seems alright.

The (pretty much) final sequence with the village being attacked by the Germans and all those people dying in the fire in the wooden house is so heartbreaking to watch. The boy turns out as a survivalist again and somehow manages to find a way out. But seeing everybody else die inside is not much of a pleasant fate. Images stuck in his head forever. And the tragic thing is that this exact act happened in hundreds of villages apparently as the Germans went on to conquer Belarus back then. Of course, there is also the scene with the gun pointed at the boy's head and one Nazi officer taking a photo of this moment. You cannot be sure if the boy lives or dies. The moment when he looks right at us in the theater was very haunting there. It would not have been a surprise at all if they boy had been killed as well as basically everybody else dies, but somehow he makes it out alive and the Nazis spare him. However, of course, all this did something with him too and his innocence is as lost as it gets as we see for example during the scene with the German guy who is held hostage by the Soviets almost at the very end. One thing I personally found extremely haunting is how the boy physically ages a lot during the course of this movie with all the terrible things he had to witness. In his final shot he looks like four years older when it was just four months or so. But his innocence is not entirely gone as we find out in the very final collection of shots that combine the events of the movie with actual footage from back then, which was only 40 years before this movie must be said, so almost as much time as has passed since the film and the year 2020. Only five more years and it is the same amount. Anyway, what I actually wanted to say is that we see the boy and all his anger and it seems as if he wants to delete all the crimes Hitler did, but not just those, basically destroy Hitler's entire existence as he keeps aggressing while we go back in time. But when we are at the moment when there is this photo of Hitler as a baby, he stops and we see his tears for the very first time really. Took long enough. He still has decency and humanity in him. He is not emotionally bankrupt like those Nazi officers who keep firing and using the flame thrower at the wooden house with all these lost souls inside who cannot get out. Also pay attention to how one of the Nazis, the one with the special hat, is constantly bullied by the others, almost dies in said house as well. He is not strong, not alpha like the others and consequently an easy target. Yet it's not all of them who are cold-blooded killers. We see one for example who has to throw up and there is a little elaboration on key subjects that were discussed for decades after WWII, namely the element of guilt. We have the German captive at the end who says he never killed somebody and right next to him we have Soviets who collaborated with the German invaders. They got their special place in the history books as well and there is not one definite answer to the question how much guilt they carry. One thing I want to say to end my review: Of course, this is an anti-war movie that shows us how terrible it all was back then. Had a touch of green hell before the long sequence with the German invaders. What I wanted to say is that the obvious message is of course we shall never let times and scenarios like these come back. Peace must be kept. But if you think a step further, it must be noted at the same time that we should be extremely careful with the language we use. Comparing peaceful patriots to Nazis is equally unacceptable. This term shall not be used as inflationary as it is today. Patriots would in the big majority of cases never happily take part in massacres like the one depicted in this film in the last over 30 minutes. They condemn this kind of behavior. Okay, I think this is pretty much it then, even if I could elaborate on another half a dozen scenes from this film, maybe even the full dozen, but sadly I forgot a bit about it already. Still, it was a really haunting experience and I am glad I watched it and I am glad it is not forgotten because the room was full, basically every single ticket sold, well not every single one because of the pandemic, but all those that could get picked. So I am really glad this film will not vanish into oblivion. A must-see for Belarussians and close to a must-see for everybody else and that means something coming from me because normally war movies are not really my favorite genre. Also one of the best teenager performances I have seen in a long time, if not ever. A definite contender for best film I have seen in 2020. Highly, highly recommended! And absolutely everybody in the audience had lumps in their throats after this film, several even tears in their faces I assume. Three awards only? This film is an experience that must not be missed.