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Come and See

Come and See (Russian: Иди и смотри, Idi i smotri, lit. "Go and see") is a 1985 Soviet war drama directed by Elem Klimov, centering on the Nazi occupation of Belarus during World War II as experienced by a teenage boy joining partisan fighters.^[1] The film depicts the protagonist Flyora's rapid descent from youthful idealism into trauma amid village burnings, mass executions, and other atrocities committed by German forces against civilians, grounded in historical accounts of the region's devastation where over 600 villages were obliterated.^[2]^[3] Klimov's final feature employs unconventional techniques, including distorted soundscapes and slow-motion sequences, to immerse viewers in the psychological horror of war without romanticization or heroic tropes, reflecting the director's intent to evoke "genetic memory" of the conflict's barbarity.^[4]^[5] Production involved live ammunition and grueling conditions for lead actor Aleksei Kravchenko, mirroring the on-screen realism and contributing to the film's raw authenticity.^[3]^[6] Premiering at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival, it secured the Grand Prix and FIPRESCI Prize, with subsequent critical acclaim establishing it as a landmark anti-war work for its unflinching portrayal of dehumanization and civilian suffering.^[7] Later restorations, including a 2017 2K version, have garnered further honors, such as the Best Restored Film at Venice Classics, underscoring its enduring impact.^[8]^[9]

Background

Historical Context

The Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union, codenamed Operation Barbarossa, began on June 22, 1941, with German Army Group Center rapidly overrunning the Belarusian Soviet Socialist Republic, occupying most of its territory by early July.^[10] Belarus, with a pre-war population of approximately 9 million, became a focal point of the Eastern Front due to its strategic position between major Soviet cities and its dense forests ideal for partisan operations. German occupation policies treated Slavic populations as racially inferior, implementing brutal exploitation, forced labor, and systematic extermination, particularly targeting Jews—over 800,000 of whom were murdered in Belarusian ghettos and killing sites like Maly Trostenets, where up to 206,500 victims perished.^[11] ^[12] By 1943, the setting of the film's events, Soviet partisan forces had grown to over 370,000 fighters in Belarus, conducting sabotage against German supply lines amid the broader Red Army counteroffensives following Stalingrad.^[13] Nazi responses escalated into genocidal counterinsurgency, with directives from Hitler and Wehrmacht commanders authorizing collective punishments, including the razing of entire villages and mass executions of civilians to suppress resistance. Over 5,295 Belarusian settlements were destroyed in such operations, often by burning inhabitants alive in barns or churches, as exemplified by the Khatyn massacre on March 22, 1943, where 149 villagers, including 75 children, were killed by SS and collaborationist forces.^[14] These tactics, rooted in racial ideology and military desperation, contributed to civilian deaths estimated at 1.6 million in Belarus alone.^[15] The film's portrayal draws from documented eyewitness accounts of these atrocities, including those compiled by Belarusian partisans and Soviet investigators, reflecting the disproportionate devastation in Belarus—where roughly 25% of the population perished, far exceeding losses in other Soviet republics.^[13] German forces and auxiliaries, facing resource shortages and partisan ambushes, systematically depopulated rural areas to create "dead zones," killing non-combatants indiscriminately and displacing survivors into labor camps or flight. Post-war archival evidence from Belarusian and Allied sources confirms the scale, with no equivalent modern precedent for such localized civilian targeting in a single theater of war.^[11]^[16]

Development and Script

The screenplay for Come and See was co-written by director Elem Klimov and Belarusian author Ales Adamovich, drawing directly from Adamovich's documentary-style works on the Nazi occupation of Belarus during World War II.^[17] ^[4] Adamovich's 1971 novel Khatyn, which recounts the real-life destruction of the Belarusian village of Khatyn on March 22, 1943—where German forces and collaborators massacred 149 civilians, including 75 children—served as a primary narrative foundation, with the film's protagonist Flyora bearing the same name as a key figure in the book.^[18] ^[17] Complementing this was Adamovich's 1977 collection I Am from the Fiery Village (also known as Out of the Fiery Village), compiled from oral testimonies of survivors from over 600 razed Belarusian villages, emphasizing unfiltered partisan experiences and civilian atrocities to counter sanitized Soviet war narratives.^[17] ^[2] Adamovich's personal history as a teenage partisan fighter in Belarus from 1942 onward informed the script's authenticity, providing firsthand accounts of guerrilla warfare, village burnings, and psychological trauma that Klimov integrated to depict war's dehumanizing effects without heroic glorification.^[19] ^[17] Klimov, who had long sought to produce an unflinching war film reflecting the Eastern Front's brutality—initially titled Kill Hitler! in early drafts—collaborated with Adamovich to blend these elements into a semi-fictional structure centered on a boy's radical transformation amid real historical events, prioritizing survivor voices over propaganda.^[20] ^[21] Development faced significant obstacles from Soviet authorities, who viewed the raw portrayal of atrocities and moral ambiguity as subversive; the script endured eight years of bureaucratic review and revisions before approval in the mid-1980s, coinciding with preparations for the 40th anniversary of the Soviet victory in 1945.^[22] ^[23] Klimov repeatedly clashed with censors demanding heroic edits and toning down horror, but persisted by leveraging his position and the thawing cultural climate under perestroika, ultimately producing the film through Belarusfilm and Mosfilm to preserve its testimonial integrity.^[24] ^[25]

Production

Filming Process

Principal photography for Come and See took place in rural areas of Belarus during 1984, utilizing authentic villages and forests to depict the Nazi occupation's devastation.^[26]^[27] The production employed natural lighting exclusively, which extended shooting times in shaded forest scenes but enhanced the film's gritty realism.^[3] To achieve visceral authenticity in combat sequences, director Elem Klimov incorporated live ammunition fired near actors, with bullets reportedly passing within inches of lead performer Aleksei Kravchenko, who was 14 years old at the time.^[6]^[28] This method induced genuine fear and psychological distress in Kravchenko, contributing to his raw portrayal of the protagonist Flyora's trauma, though it raised safety concerns and exacerbated the emotional toll on the cast.^[6]^[29] Klimov justified these techniques as necessary to convey the irrational horror of war without artificial staging, drawing from co-screenwriter Ales Adamovich's partisan experiences.^[6] Cinematographer Aleksei Rodionov utilized Steadicam for fluid tracking shots through dense environments, immersing viewers in the chaos alongside the characters.^[30] The overall process strained the crew due to the demanding subject matter and environmental conditions, mirroring the film's depiction of unrelenting brutality.^[31]

Casting and Acting Methods

The lead role of Flyora Gayshun was cast with 14-year-old Aleksei Kravchenko, a non-professional actor from Minsk with no prior experience, selected by director Elem Klimov for his fresh appearance and capacity to depict the character's descent from youthful enthusiasm to psychological devastation.^[6] Kravchenko's selection emphasized authenticity over trained performance, aligning with Klimov's aim to portray unfiltered human responses to war's horrors; he did not act again for over a decade after the film's completion.^[6] Supporting roles, including Olga Mironova as Glasha, were similarly filled by non-professionals, particularly local Belarusians, to evoke genuine rural civilian experiences, while Lithuanian actors portrayed German soldiers to maintain distance from Soviet performers in antagonistic parts.^[6] Klimov employed immersive acting methods to extract raw emotional authenticity, exposing Kravchenko to graphic Holocaust documentary footage prior to filming to instill real dread and prepare for intense sequences.^[6] Production utilized live ammunition and explosives, with bullets fired in proximity to actors during combat scenes to provoke instinctive fear, eschewing safer simulations for heightened realism.^[6] Scenes were shot in chronological order over nine months amid Belarus's severe winter conditions, enabling Kravchenko's visible aging and accumulating trauma to reflect his on-set ordeal; hypnosis was attempted to aid endurance of the most harrowing moments, such as the village massacre.^[6] These techniques, drawn from Klimov's collaboration with partisan survivor Ales Adamovich, prioritized experiential immersion over conventional rehearsal, resulting in performances marked by unscripted visceral reactions.^[6]

Technical Elements

The film's cinematography, led by Aleksei Rodionov, utilized Steadicam technology—a Soviet adaptation of the stabilizing rig—to capture fluid yet disorienting tracking shots amid chaotic environments, such as forests and village burnings, immersing viewers in the protagonist's perspective without relying on polished smoothness.^[30]^[32] These techniques produced jagged arcs and gliding movements that traced the characters' panic and flight, contrasting with more lyrical applications in other cinema while prioritizing raw experiential intensity.^[32] Sound design emphasized diegetic audio elements, including amplified gunfire, explosions, and human cries, to convey the visceral immediacy of war over artificial enhancement, forgoing heavy musical underscoring in favor of ambient realism that heightens psychological dread.^[33] The original score by Oleg Yanchenko features rhythmically unstructured compositions that evoke unease, supplemented selectively by classical excerpts such as Richard Wagner's "Ride of the Valkyries" from Die Walküre and Mozart's Lacrimosa to underscore ironic or climactic horrors.^[34] Technical specifications include a 142-minute runtime, a 1.37:1 aspect ratio suited to the era's Soviet production standards, filming on 35mm negative with Arriflex 35BL III cameras, and an overall approach that integrated location shooting in Belarusian landscapes to maintain documentary-like authenticity in visual and auditory layers.^[35] Editing by V. Kalinin contributed to the film's relentless pacing, with attenuated transitions that blurred temporal boundaries and amplified surreal distortions without resorting to montage abstraction.^[36]

Narrative and Themes

Plot Overview

"Come and See" depicts events in Nazi-occupied Belarus in 1943 through the eyes of Flyora, a 14-year-old boy eager to join the Soviet partisans. While digging for weapons with a friend near his village, Flyora uncovers an SVT-40 rifle, prompting partisan commander Kosach to recruit him despite his mother's desperate objections. Leaving his family, Flyora integrates into the partisan forest camp, performing menial tasks amid the ongoing guerrilla warfare against German forces.^[23]^[1] As the partisans relocate to evade detection, Flyora is assigned to a rear unit that suffers a devastating Luftwaffe bombing raid, leaving him temporarily deafened by the blasts. He encounters Glasha, a teenage girl from the partisans who initially mistakes him for Kosach. Together, they journey to her village, only to find it razed: her mother lynched and corpses strewn about. Overwhelmed by the carnage, including a mass grave, Glasha flees in hysteria, abandoning Flyora.^[23]^[26] Wandering alone, Flyora witnesses further brutalities, such as a failed food raid resulting in the death of a fellow partisan and a cow. Arriving at the village of Perekhody during a brief festive respite, he soon faces a Nazi punitive expedition led by SS troops and local collaborators. The attackers herd over 200 villagers, primarily women and children, into a wooden church and barn, douse it with fuel, and incinerate them alive after mocking offers of escape for the childless. Flyora, concealed in a bog, observes the systematic extermination, his psyche fracturing under the horror.^[23]^[26] In the aftermath, a shell-shocked Flyora, his face contorted into an aged mask of anguish, links up with vengeful partisans who ambush and execute captured Germans and Belarusian auxiliaries. The film culminates in a hallucinatory sequence where Flyora unleashes a barrage from a heavy machine gun at a framed portrait of Adolf Hitler, intercut with reversed archival footage tracing Hitler's life backward from dictator to infant. Shattered but resolute, Flyora departs with the partisans into the woods, as on-screen text records that German forces obliterated 628 Belarusian villages during the occupation.^[23]^[26]^[24]

Core Themes and Symbolism

The film's primary theme is the unrelenting brutality of war, exemplified by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen's systematic extermination campaigns in Belarus during 1943, where over 600 villages were razed and civilian populations subjected to mass shootings, burnings, and sexual violence as documented in survivor accounts co-authored by screenwriter Ales Adamovich.^[2] This portrayal rejects romanticization, presenting atrocities as chaotic and dehumanizing forces that strip victims of agency and perpetrators of rationality.^[37] Loss of innocence forms the narrative core, traced through protagonist Flyora's transformation from an eager 12-year-old partisan recruit to a shell-shocked survivor whose face, altered by makeup and Kravchenko's performance, visibly ages into a grotesque mask of premature decay, symbolizing trauma's irreversible corruption of youth.^[38] Director Elem Klimov described this as evoking a "genetic memory" of war's horrors, drawing from collective Belarusian recollections rather than individual heroics, to underscore how conflict erodes childhood's purity without redemption.^[4] Symbolism permeates the film through biblical allusions, with the title "Come and See" referencing Revelation 6's apocalyptic horsemen, framing the Belarusian front as an end-times judgment where viewers are compelled to confront war's revelatory evil unfiltered by propaganda.^[32] Surreal distortions—such as slow-motion blasts, distorted soundscapes, and Flyora's hallucinatory perceptions—amplify hyper-realistic violence, illustrating the psychological derangement induced by genocide, as Klimov intended to mimic the "nightmare" of lived testimony from Adamovich's partisan experiences.^[39]^[40] Juxtapositions of nature and mechanized horror further symbolize dehumanization: fleeing animals like the opening hare contrast with Nazi soldiers' animalistic glee in destruction, highlighting war's inversion of natural order into sadistic entropy.^[41] The finale's montage of reversed historical footage, culminating in an imagined rifle shot at a childhood photo of Adolf Hitler, embodies futile retrospection on causation, rejecting cyclical inevitability while critiquing war's origins in unchecked ideology, per Klimov's stated aim to "kill Hitler" metaphorically through unflinching exposure.^[42]^[31]

Release

Premiere and Distribution

Come and See had its world premiere on 9 July 1985 in the main competition program of the 14th Moscow International Film Festival, where it was awarded the Grand Prix (Golden Prize).^[43]^[21] The film's release came after extensive delays due to Soviet censorship reviews, with the script approved only following leadership changes under Mikhail Gorbachev's perestroika reforms, enabling production to commence in 1984.^[44] Theatrical distribution in the Soviet Union followed the festival screening later in 1985, produced by Mosfilm and Belarusfilm studios under state oversight.^[1] It achieved notable domestic success, ranking sixth in box office attendance for the year and later voted the best film of 1986 in a Soviet poll.^[21] Internationally, the film saw limited initial releases beginning in late 1985, with wider availability constrained by its unflinching portrayal of wartime atrocities.^[45] Screenings occurred at festivals and select markets, including a U.S. release handled by Janus Films, though commercial penetration remained modest until later restorations broadened access.^[4]

Restorations and Home Media

In 2017, Mosfilm produced a new 2K restoration of Come and See, sourced from the original camera negative, which earned the Best Restored Film Award at the Venice Classics sidebar of the Venice Film Festival.^[8] This restoration addressed issues in prior transfers, including improved color grading, contrast, and detail retention while preserving the film's original 1.37:1 aspect ratio and monochromatic visual style.^[8]^[46] The restored version facilitated renewed theatrical screenings, with Janus Films distributing a remastered print for U.S. rereleases starting in late 2019.^[47] For home media, Criterion Collection issued the first major high-definition edition on June 30, 2020, comprising a single-disc Blu-ray (1080p AVC encode) and a two-disc DVD set, both utilizing the 2017 Mosfilm restoration.^[44]^[48] The Blu-ray offers uncompressed PCM 1.0 mono audio in the original Russian with English subtitles, alongside optional English dubbing tracks from earlier releases.^[49] Supplements include a 1985 making-of documentary, interviews with cinematographer Aleksei Rodionov and actor Aleksei Kravchenko, an essay by critic Elliott Stein, and the theatrical trailer.^[44] Prior to the Criterion edition, home video availability was limited; older DVD releases, such as those from Russian distributors or international labels in the early 2000s, relied on lower-quality transfers prone to artifacts and faded blacks.^[50] The 2020 Criterion release has since become the reference standard, also streaming on the Criterion Channel with the restored master.^[51] International variants include a German Blu-ray from December 2020 by Koch Media, featuring the same restoration but region-locked differences.^[52]

Reception

Contemporary Reviews

Come and See premiered at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival on July 9, 1985, where it received the Golden Prize, the State Prize of the USSR, and the FIPRESCI Prize, signaling immediate critical approval within Soviet and select international circles. Soviet film critic Nina Ignatyeva, reviewing it for Iskusstvo Kino (issue 12, 1985), hailed the film as a profound "film-requiem" that attains unprecedented realism through a fusion of documentary authenticity and poetic form, compelling audiences to confront war's moral devastation and the imperative to eradicate its roots: "Kill the very murder, destroy its possibility, its preconditions—this is the film's pathos."^[53] Domestic release followed in October 1985, coinciding with the 40th anniversary of the Soviet victory in World War II, drawing an estimated 30 million viewers and earning widespread praise for its visceral anti-fascist stance and unflinching exposure of Nazi atrocities against Belarusian civilians.^[54] Western reception emerged gradually amid limited distribution. In a February 1987 New York Times assessment upon U.S. screening, the film was deemed a "graphic, powerful" evocation of 1943 Nazi barbarity in Byelorussia, though faulted for protracted scenes that dilute impact, such as an extended village incineration: "You feel it through your body as villagers are packed into a barn to be incinerated," yet the director's "tour de force" occasionally overwhelms the boy's perspective.^[55] Rita Kempley, writing for The Washington Post that year, countered with stronger endorsement, portraying it as "an impassioned, pastoral indictment of the Nazis" whose haunting imagery lingers profoundly.^[56] Overall, early international commentary grappled with its raw intensity, often commending its psychological depth while noting the challenge of its unrelenting brutality for unprepared audiences.

Awards and Recognition

Come and See received the Golden Prize at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival on July 13, 1985, awarded to director Elem Klimov for the film's depiction of World War II atrocities.^[7] The same festival granted it the FIPRESCI Prize, recognizing its international critical significance as an anti-war work.^[7] These awards marked the film's primary contemporary honors within Soviet and Eastern Bloc cinema circuits, reflecting state-supported recognition amid limited Western distribution at the time. In 2017, Mosfilm's 2K restoration of the film earned the Venice Classics Award for Best Restored Film at the 74th Venice Film Festival on September 9, highlighting its enduring archival value and technical revival for modern audiences.^[8] The restored version screened at the Toronto International Film Festival in 1986 and later events, underscoring retrospective appreciation rather than initial international prizes.^[57] Despite critical acclaim, the film garnered no Academy Awards nominations or equivalent Western honors in 1985, consistent with geopolitical barriers to Soviet entries during the Cold War era.

Public and Viewer Responses

Upon its 1985 release in the Soviet Union, Come and See confronted audiences with unfiltered depictions of Nazi atrocities in Belarus, eliciting widespread shock and emotional distress among viewers who had previously encountered more sanitized war narratives in state-approved cinema.^[58] The film's approval followed years of negotiations with censors, who demanded revisions to tone down graphic elements, yet its final form retained a raw intensity that left Soviet viewers grappling with the psychological toll of partisan warfare and civilian massacres.^[28] Western and international audiences, encountering the film through limited festival screenings and later distributions, reported similarly visceral reactions, with many describing it as one of the most harrowing war films ever made, capable of inducing lasting trauma akin to post-traumatic stress.^[37] User reviews on platforms like IMDb highlight its emotional drainage, with viewers noting physical manifestations of horror such as nausea, sleeplessness, and a profound reevaluation of war's dehumanizing effects on the young protagonist Flyora.^[59] The film's 8.3/10 rating from over 117,000 IMDb users reflects broad acclaim for its authenticity, though a minority express aversion to its unrelenting bleakness and absence of redemptive arcs.^[1] In online communities, such as Reddit's film discussion forums, public discourse reveals polarized yet predominantly reverent responses: enthusiasts praise its immersive anti-war message and technical bravura for evoking empathy with civilian victims, while detractors criticize it as excessively nihilistic or plot-deficient, arguing it prioritizes visceral impact over narrative coherence.^[60]^[61] Renewed interest surged in the 2020s amid conflicts like the war in Ukraine, prompting viewers to cite it as essential for understanding the enduring scars of occupation and genocide on non-combatants.^[58] Overall, the film's legacy in public consciousness centers on its capacity to provoke a transformative confrontation with human depravity, often leaving audiences "forever changed" by the unrelenting gaze into wartime madness.^[62]

Analysis and Legacy

Historical Accuracy

"Come and See" portrays the Nazi occupation of Belarus in 1943 with a high degree of fidelity to documented historical events, particularly the genocidal anti-partisan campaigns that devastated the region. German forces implemented scorched-earth policies, destroying over 5,295 Belarusian villages and killing approximately 2.2 million civilians—about 25% of the prewar population—through mass executions, burnings, and reprisals against suspected partisan sympathizers.^[63]^[14] These operations, often led by SS units such as the Dirlewanger Brigade composed of convicted criminals, involved herding villagers into barns or buildings, dousing them with gasoline, and setting them ablaze, a tactic mirrored in the film's climactic sequence.^[64]^[65] The central village massacre draws direct inspiration from real incidents like the Khatyn massacre on March 22, 1943, where retreating German forces and Ukrainian collaborators executed 149 inhabitants, including women and children, by locking them in a shed and igniting it; only four survived.^[17] Such events were not isolated; Nazi directives explicitly authorized collective punishment, including the extermination of entire communities to suppress the partisan movement, which by mid-1943 controlled significant rural areas and numbered over 100,000 fighters in Belarus alone.^[14]^[37] The film's depiction of a teenage boy joining partisans reflects the reality of widespread civilian involvement in resistance, including youths, amid the chaos of occupation; Belarusian partisans conducted sabotage and ambushes, prompting brutal German retaliation that blurred lines between combatants and noncombatants.^[64] Psychological trauma, such as the protagonist's apparent aging from horror, aligns with survivor accounts of enduring shell shock and moral devastation, though dramatized for effect.^[65] While the narrative composites multiple atrocities for cinematic focus, historians rate its overall realism highly, avoiding glorification and emphasizing the indiscriminate savagery documented in postwar trials and archives.^[4]^[2]

Political Interpretations

The film Come and See has been widely interpreted as a visceral indictment of Nazi fascism, portraying the German occupation of Belarus in 1943–1944 as a campaign of systematic extermination that razed over 600 villages and killed approximately 345,000 civilians, including through mass burnings and shootings.^[66] Director Elem Klimov framed the work as evoking the "genetic memory of war" ingrained in Soviet collective consciousness, drawing from survivor testimonies and historical records of atrocities like the Khatyn massacre on March 22, 1943, where 149 villagers were herded into a barn and burned alive.^[4] This perspective aligns with the film's depiction of partisan resistance as a moral imperative against genocidal invaders, reflecting Klimov's stated intent to counterbalance narratives that, in his view, overly emphasized Allied or Soviet misconduct relative to Axis barbarity.^[67] Critics have debated its alignment with Soviet ideological priorities, noting production under Goskino oversight during late perestroika, when artistic freedoms expanded but state narratives still prioritized fascist aggression as WWII's root cause.^[68] The absence of scrutiny toward Soviet partisans' own brutalities—such as reprisals against suspected collaborators—or the broader Stalinist context of the war serves to reinforce a unidimensional portrayal of victimhood and heroism, characteristic of official Soviet historiography that documented 27 million USSR deaths while downplaying internal purges.^[2] Klimov navigated censorship not for political deviation but for the film's unrelenting pessimism, which delayed approval for years; nonetheless, its release in 1985 amplified Moscow's framing of the Great Patriotic War as existential defense against Teutonic savagery.^[67] In post-Soviet analyses, the film sustains nationalist resonances, particularly in Belarus and Russia, where it underscores ethnic Slavic suffering under foreign occupation—over 25% of Belarus's prewar population perished—and justifies contemporary geopolitical stances against perceived revivals of Nazism.^[42] Western interpreters often praise its anti-war universality, yet acknowledge the partisan lens that glorifies irregular warfare without critiquing its toll on civilians, as evidenced by the protagonist's transformation from naive youth to vengeful mute, symbolizing irreversible moral corrosion specific to anti-fascist struggle.^[2] Some contend this focus precludes a truly apolitical pacifism, positioning the narrative as implicitly endorsing total resistance over negotiation, akin to Klimov's rejection of "war is hell" platitudes in favor of historical specificity.^[69]

Cinematic Influence and Retrospectives

Come and See has exerted a notable influence on later filmmakers through its innovative use of subjective camerawork, sound design, and visceral portrayal of war's psychological toll, techniques that prioritize immersion over conventional narrative distance. Director László Nemes cited the film as a key inspiration for Son of Saul (2015), particularly its long-take sequences and focus on a protagonist's limited perspective amid atrocities, which Nemes adapted to evoke Holocaust horrors.^[30] Cinematographer Aleksei Rodionov's employment of Steadicam for fluid, gliding tracking shots through chaotic environments has been compared to the work of Max Ophüls, influencing subsequent war films' emphasis on dynamic, ground-level realism.^[30] The film's blend of hyper-realism with surreal elements, including distorted soundscapes and apocalyptic imagery, has informed anti-war cinema's exploration of trauma's existential dimensions, as seen in critiques linking its methods to broader Soviet traditions like Andrei Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood (1962), though Come and See extends these into more unrelenting horror.^[68] Elem Klimov's direction, emphasizing a child's unraveling psyche via semi-subjective shots, set a benchmark for depicting civilian suffering, prompting later directors to confront war's dehumanizing effects without heroic framing.^[70] Retrospectives have solidified Come and See's status as an enduring anti-war masterpiece, with a 2020 4K restoration by Criterion Collection enabling theatrical re-releases that renewed acclaim for its unflinching chronicle of Nazi occupation in Belarus.^[71] Critics in 2020 described it as evoking "genetic memory of war," praising Klimov's Glasnost-era achievement in blending historical specificity with universal dread, unhindered by prior Soviet censorship delays.^[4] By 2023, analyses highlighted its prescient violence as a unique World War II lens, distinguishing it from sanitized Western depictions through raw, witness-driven testimony drawn from co-scripter Ales Adamovich's partisan experiences.^[72] In 2025 markings of its 40th anniversary, reviewers reaffirmed its power as "the most disturbing war film ever made," underscoring how its refusal to aestheticize brutality continues to challenge viewers, with production details—like Kravchenko's real hair singeing for authenticity—amplifying retrospective appreciation for its commitment to causal horror over propaganda.^[37] ^[73] Despite initial Soviet hurdles, including an eight-year approval wait, later evaluations attribute its legacy to empirical grounding in Belarusian atrocities, influencing scholarly views on cinema's role in preserving unvarnished historical realism.^[73]

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Come and See (1985) summary & plot - Spoiler Town
Jul 30, 2025 · Flyora, a Belarusian teenager, joins partisans against Nazis, upsetting his family who fears for his safety amid WWII's turmoil.
[27]
Analysis of the 1985 War Drama Film Come and See - Facebook
Mar 4, 2024 · Come and See (1985) is a harrowing Soviet war drama directed by Elem Klimov. Set during World War II, the film follows a young Belarusian boy ...Come and See is a 1985 Soviet anti-war film directed by Elem ...89. Come and See (1985) I've never heard of this movie before this ...More results from www.facebook.comMissing: development timeline
[28]
'Come & See': Elem Klimov's Nightmarish WWII Movie Is An ...
Aug 13, 2020 · During filming, Klimov used live ammunition that purportedly buzzed within six inches of the actor. Kravchenko demonstrates the emotional ...
[29]
Come and See - Music and the Holocaust
Come and See is widely regarded as one of the most intense anti-war films ever made, both for its disturbing imagery and its innovative use of sound. The role ...<|control11|><|separator|>
[30]
The Undeniable Power of Come and See – Establishing Shot
Sep 21, 2020 · Come and See (1985), Russian director Elem Klimov's film about a young man trying to survive World War II in what is now Belarus.
[31]
Come and See: An Epic of Derangement - 3am Magazine
Feb 4, 2010 · The ordeal of filming and the difficult subject matter, placed a severe strain on all concerned with it, none more so than its lead actor the ...
[32]
Deep Focus: Come and See
Feb 28, 2020 · Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) · Klimov uses sound and image to frame the movie in unorthodox ways, drawing us ever deeper into Flyora's ...
[33]
Frontline Flicks: Come and See (1985) - Nordic Defence Review
The sound design in Come and See is equally powerful. Instead of relying heavily on musical scores, Klimov often uses diegetic sounds—bombs, gunfire, and ...
[34]
Come and See (1985) - Soundtracks - IMDb
The soundtrack includes "Die Walküre", "Lacrimosa", "Korobushka", "Im Wald im grünen Walde", "Blue Danube", "Tannhäuser", "Moya Marusechka", and " ...
[35]
Come and See (1985) - Technical specifications - IMDb
The movie has a runtime of 2h 22m (142 min), with a 1.37:1 aspect ratio, uses Arriflex 35BL III cameras, and has a 35mm negative format.
[36]
1985: Come and See (Elem Klimov) - Senses of Cinema
Dec 14, 2017 · Come and See (1985 Soviet Union 142 mins) Source: AFTRS Prod, Dir: Elem Klimov Scr: Klimov and Ales Adamovich Phot: Alexei Rodionov Mus: O. Yanchenko, Mozart
[37]
Come and See — the most disturbing war film ever made - Medium
Jul 5, 2025 · After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II.Missing: facts | Show results with:facts
[38]
74. Come and See (directed by Elem Klimov) USSR 1985
Jul 2, 2015 · Come and See, Elem Klimov's 1985 anti-war masterpiece, is the journey of one young Belarusian boy Flyora's (played with a remarkable authenticity by non- ...Missing: analysis | Show results with:analysis
[39]
Come and See (Elem Klimov, 1985) - Offscreen
A harrowing, disorienting and near incomprehensible nightmare; a brutal living Hell that to bare witness to destroys all naivety, shreds all innocence, and ...
[40]
View of Interview with Elem Klimov | Kinema: A Journal for Film and ...
And the most difficult one among the serious films was definitely Idi I smotri (Come and See, 1985). ... Will any of these writers turn their talents to writing ...
[41]
"Come and See" and the signifigance of animals. : r/TrueFilm - Reddit
Apr 7, 2017 · I want to see if I am alone in feeling that there is some signifigance to the juxtaposition of quiet, unintelligent animals and the dehumanization of people ...'Come and See' (1985) film review - the most important war ... - RedditCome and See ending, questions and interpretations [SPOILERS]More results from www.reddit.comMissing: core analysis
[42]
Come and See: The greatest war film ever made - Emerging Europe
Feb 13, 2021 · In the late 1970s, Russian director Elem Klimov began work on a film about the Nazi occupation of Belarus with the working title Kill Hitler.
[43]
Come and See (1985) directed by Elem Klimov - Letterboxd
Rating 4.6 (383,258) Premiere Venice Film Festival. Flag for Japan Japan. 30 Oct 1987. Theatrical. 24 ... Come and See is a film I find almost impossible to review. Describing ...
[44]
https://www.criterion.com/films/28895-come-and-see
[45]
Come and See (1985) - Box Office and Financial Information
Movie Details ; Source: Based on Factual Book/Article ; Genre: Drama ; Production Method: Live Action ; Creative Type: Dramatization ; Production Countries: Russian ...Missing: specifications | Show results with:specifications
[46]
Criterion Review: COME AND SEE (1985) - Cinapse.co
Jul 15, 2020 · Borne of the oral histories of the Belorussian massacres of World War II collected by Ales Adamovich and writer-director Elem Klimov's own ...
[47]
'Come And See' 2K Restoration Trailer: Elem Klimov Incredible War ...
Dec 18, 2019 · Janus Films has recently remastered “Come and See,” giving it the 2K restoration treatment and is releasing the film back in theaters.<|separator|>
[48]
Come and See Blu-ray (Иди и смотри / Idi i smotri)
Rating 10/10 Jul 18, 2020 · Come and See Blu-ray Release Date June 30, 2020 (Иди и смотри, Idi i smotri). Blu-ray reviews, news, specs, ratings, screenshots.
[49]
Come and See Review - Criterion Forum
Jun 29, 2020 · The Criterion Collection presents Elem Klimov's Come and See on Blu-ray in its original aspect ratio of 1.37:1 on a dual-layer disc. The 1080p/ ...
[50]
Come and See Blu-ray - Aleksey Kravchenko - DVDBeaver
(aka "Idi i smotri" or "Go and Look" or "Come and See" or "Go and See ... There is a new revealing 27-minute interview, recorded by the Criterion Collection ...
[51]
The new restoration of Come and See is now up on the Criterion ...
May 5, 2020 · The new restoration of Come and See is now up on the Criterion Channel! Two months ahead of the blu ray release. Announcement. You can tell right away. It ...The French poster for the restored release of Come and See in April.Come and See Blu Ray region : r/criterion - RedditMore results from www.reddit.com
[52]
Come and See Blu-ray (Komm und sieh / Иди и смотри) (Germany)
Elem Klimov's Come And See is out on BluRay, 29, Dec 06, 2020. • Come and See (Elem Klimov), 11, Aug 14, 2016. • Come and See (JP IVC), 2, Aug 11, 2016. Select ...
[53]
Иди и смотри» Элема Климова — фильм-реквием по войне
May 9, 2020 · Впервые рецензия Нины Игнатьевой на фильм «Иди и смотри» была опубликована как фрагмент статьи «Рецензии на фильмы конкурсной, информационной и ...
[54]
«Иди и смотри» Элема Климова — важнейший фильм о войне ...
May 6, 2021 · Выйдя в прокат к 40-летию Победы, в 1985-м, «Иди и смотри» стал одним из рекордсменов проката (в СССР его посмотрели около 30 миллионов зрителей) ...
[55]
FILM: 'COME AND SEE,' FROM SOVIET - The New York Times
Feb 6, 1987 · Drama about Nazi barbarity in 1943 Soviet Union. Graphic, powerful but ultimately overdone.<|separator|>
[56]
Come and See (1985) - External reviews - IMDb
External reviews. Come and See. Edit · rogerebert.com [Roger Ebert] · The Village Voice [J. Hoberman] · Washington Post [Rita Kempley] ... 20/20 Movie Reviews ...
[57]
https://www.mubi.com/en/us/films/come-and-see
[58]
The Film 'Come and See', the Russian Psyche, and the War in Ukraine
Apr 5, 2022 · Director Klimov pulls no punches on Come and See, as he masterfully, using a variety of clever and intriguing filmmaking techniques, such as ...Missing: methods | Show results with:methods<|separator|>
[59]
Come and See (1985) - User reviews - IMDb
The story is simple: Byelorussia in 1943 and it's Hell on the Earth. The Nazis are fighting a no-quarter-given-or-asked war against huge Soviet partisan units, ...Missing: summary | Show results with:summary
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1985's Come and See (Idi i smotri): hate this movie, am I missing ...
Nov 22, 2014 · In the case of Come and See, i neither enjoyed the film nor was i glad to have at least experienced the film like films such as Schindler's ...I watched "Come and See" and I'm really dissapointed. : r/moviesCome and See (1985) : Idi i smotri - How does it stand today ... - RedditMore results from www.reddit.comMissing: responses | Show results with:responses
[61]
I watched "Come and See" and I'm really dissapointed. : r/movies
Nov 19, 2021 · Just death, loneliness, emptiness, and pain. The reason why come and see has such a big impact on everyone's emotional state is because of how ...possibly one of the most brutal films I've seen : r/TrueFilm - Redditr/ussr on Reddit: Come and see 1985. Propaganda film that showed ...More results from www.reddit.com
[62]
Come And See, poster child for shock films, has a complex legacy
Jul 9, 2025 · The film—following young Belarusian boy Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko), who witnesses the increasingly nightmarish horror of war during the Nazi ...
[63]
The Holocaust in Belarus | Facing History & Ourselves
May 13, 2016 · ... Belarus was killed in the war. The percentage of Jews was even higher ... atrocities of Nazi Germany. Criminal proceedings before the ...
[64]
Just saw “Come and See”. How accurate are the depictions ... - Reddit
Apr 26, 2021 · Quite accurate. It appears that the events portrayed in the movie are based on the actions of the SS Dirlewanger Brigade (named after its commander Oskar ...Come and See (1985) Dir. Elem Klimov, DoP. Alexei RodionovHow historically accurate is the 1985 WWII movie "Come and See"?More results from www.reddit.com
[65]
Grading Historical Movies: Elem Klimov's “Come and See” (1985)
Oct 26, 2018 · Directed by Elem Klimov in 1985, the film uses a tragic storyline and horrifying imagery to act as an extremely powerful warning against war. It ...
[66]
A Russian Filmmaker's Travelogue of Hell - The New York Times
Feb 20, 2020 · The horrors of Nazi occupation in World War II are seen through the eyes of a Soviet teenager in Elem Klimov's newly restored “Come and See,” from 1985.<|separator|>
[67]
Come and See, and the Impossibility of Anti-War Art | by Rob Hutton
Jun 11, 2023 · Klimov even wrote that part of his motivation was because of what he thought was an over-emphasis on Soviet war crimes in World War II: “And ...Missing: Elem message
[68]
Klimov's “Come & See” as a Work of Cinematic Response
Come and See is very much Klimov's own powerful work, but it is a work that would not exist without—and cannot be considered entirely independent of—earlier war ...Missing: elements design
[69]
The Slippery Concept of “Anti-War” Filmmaking - The Hoya
Oct 24, 2024 · ... anti-war” films believe that true art must transcend politics. ... “Come and See” not only realistically depicts war, but through its ...<|separator|>
[70]
Come and See (1985) - Cinematography.com
Jan 13, 2011 · "Idi I Smotri" AKA "Come and See" was Elem Klimov's last picture. He was only 52 at the time of release in 1985, but refused to direct again as ...Missing: methods | Show results with:methods
[71]
https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/6827-an-antiwar-film-for-the-ages-returns-to-theaters
[72]
“Come and See” Review - The Communicator
Jan 23, 2023 · A retrospective on the 1985 film “Come and See,” and its shocking display of violence and war. The film gives a unique perspective on the story of World War II.<|separator|>
[73]
40 Years Later, This Incredible War Movie is Still Heartbreaking ...
Mar 15, 2025 · Few films are as nauseatingly haunting as Come and See. Though hailed as a masterpiece, this stunning film has faced plenty of controversy.<|separator|>