Come and See (1985) | Review

  29/June/2022 Watched. 

 My rating: 10/10. 

 As of this moment, it has been almost 48 hours since I watched Come and See. The film feels so much bigger than me. Its intimidating to write about it. Can I do it justice? I cannot. But I must record my thoughts nonetheless. 

 Come and See is a Soviet World War 2, anti-war film that came out in 1985. It depicts the invasion of the German forces upon Byelorussia and how they burned and pillaged and raped through more than 600 villages and killed almost every single one from them. Elem Klimov's (the director) mind was forever scarred with the war that he saw in Stalingrad and thus he wanted to make a serious film about it. He once noted that, and I'm paraphrasing here, "The film will not be seen by anyone. It won't make money. But it needs to be documented." And I love that sentiment, that passion about any form of art.

 Ales Adamovich was a Soviet-Belarusian writer who, among many other of his works, penned the 1971 novel, Khatyn, in which he incorporated his experiences of the war as a teenager. The novel followed a 14 year old boy named Florian who joins the partisans and meets his future wife Glasha. Ales later wrote the screenplay for Come and See which was, though not an adaptation, but quite similar to his novel. Come and See was originally titled, "Kill Hitler" but the Soviet government censored it because it came off as inappropriate for the time. And I do think that the current title is a better one.

 The film chooses the point of view of a fourteen year old boy to tell its story. The young teenager is named Florya, and like his name, he has feminine features - like most young boys do - and looks a bit younger for his age. The film begins with an old man shouting at, what seems like, the air to, "Stop digging!" We then find out that he was warning the young Florya and his younger friend who had hid themselves in the reeds. What are they digging for? Why is the man trying to keep them from digging? 

 Florya's friend, small in stature, walks out of the reeds and starts to fleer at the man by imitating him in an inhumane voice, sounding almost mechanical, robotic. Like the kind of sound those little machines make which are used by throat cancer patients to speak with. Annoyed by the child's behavior, the man leaves, warning them that they've been warned.

 We then see the two boys dig and dig and dig some more, ripping a rifle out of the sandy ground. Their faces light up in exulation, for Florya can now join the partisans and become a real man of glory and purpose. 

 In the 21st century, the roles have been reversed to some extent. The youth is now warning the elders to not only stop digging, but to bury what they've already dug up. Whether it be extreme patriotism, racism, homophobia or any other vice that you can think of, its high time that bury them and our tribalism and move forward with an enlightened spirit unity. But that's naive, unrealistic. And you know it.

 Florya's mother tries to stop him from joining the partisans but to no avail. With a stupid, adolescent smile on his face, Florya is taken to the camp that they have set in a forest and it is there that he meets a girl his age named Glasha, with whom (like war) he seems instantly smitten by, but later on he realizes that something is off with her. 

 In the camp he is given menial tasks, such as keeping vigil and cleaning the cauldron. To clean it, he must climb into it, thus becoming an ingredient for the witchcraft of war. Glasha even showers him with flowers and grass whilst he looks at her, confused. 

 He takes a picture with the partisans then later on all of them fall in lines to march towards their enemies, but Florya is ordered to exchange his shoes with an old man and remain at the camp with Glasha. His heart breaks. He can't join the battle yet.

 The young boy and the girl, all alone in the jungle, become friends and start playing within the vegetation when they get bombarded and the explosions leave Florya with a ringing in his ears, and we experience the tinnitus with him through the visceral sound design. This must've been the first time that effect was used which is now so ubiquitous in war movies.

 The film keeps on rolling and we return to the boy's house but no one is to be seen. Florya makes up his mind that his family must've fled to an island within the bog and drags Glasha with him through the thick bogland which comes off as an act of pure desperation. But before that, the point of view switches from the boy to the girl who see dead bodies piled up behind Florya's house, but she doesn't tell him that right than and there, but waits till they've reached the island to let him know that his family is dead.

 The thing which makes this scene so powerful is that we don't see the closeup of the bodies. We never actually see the close up of any of the atrocities. We see them in our peripheral vision for a moment and then they're gone from the screen but etched in our mind.

 Most of the film is shot with a steadicam. But at no point does it come off as an experiment within the documentary style. Rather, it makes us not only a witness, but a survivor of the events. Many shots are filmed in first person perspectives of more than one character, which is so interesting to me because so many of us experience World War 2 in first person through video games. The medium evolves, the techniques remain.

 Our boy, witnessing the war, starts to look like a premature adult. By the end of the film his face is wrinkled and his hair turns thin and many of them silvered. And it was not the result of a fantastic makeup artist, but that the film was shot chronologically and the experiences that the young actor, Aleksei Kravchenko, went through affected his mental and physical health. 

 For instance, the gunfire used in the film used live ammunition. Real bullets were flying 5 inches from the actors' heads. That is very irresponsible but very effective filmmaking. One one hand, you must struggle with the ethics of it all. On the other though... you get an aural and visual experience of the battle like never before. 

 The director, Elem Klimov hired a hypnotist to protect Aleksei's young mind from the scenes but as you might've guessed, the hypnotist failed and we got the performance of a life time. 

 A cow dies in this film for real, like . Is it any more evil to kill a cow for a movie than it is to kill it for food? Food for thought. 

 Later on the barn scene echoes the gas chambers of the holocaust, in which the villagers are herded in a big barn (or was it a church?) only to be locked in. And then the set the structure on fire and it's doors heave vehemently. But no one gets out. And the Nazis, delighted at the sight, laugh and eat lobsters. 

 I'll never call the Nazis and their kin beasts. It relieves them of their sins. But in pain, that is all that one can do. 

 The film, to not leave us in a cynical and depressed state, decides to punish the perpetrators and provide some level of catharsis, even though it admits in a soul-shaking sequence which follows that it is impossible to turn back the time, no matter how persistent you are. You can't change the past. The past can change you. 

 Its aesthetically very similar to the Claude Lanzmann's documentary, Shoah, which gives it that much more sense of credibility. Shoah was a documentary about the holocaust it was shot over the span of 11 years. Both of the films, with their lush, green landscapes, shrouded in mist and dew, makes you feel like you've been there to those sacred place. Forgive me, for I exaggerate; there's nothing sacred about the war. Except the wisdom that it gives birth to.

 Its Wilfred Owen-esque critique of the tragedy paints it the waste of it all in a very raw and honest manner. Schindler's List's ending romanticized the ending just a bit with it's Hollywood ending; and it works for it. But this film just presents it all as it was. And perhaps that's why this was Elem Klimov's final film.

 War is a blunt knife trying to penetrate fresh, dead leather. Cursed to be engaged in this futile effort forever. 

 Come and See is not a film about the war. It is the war.