Come and See (1985)

Editor's Note Elem Klimov's stunning COME AND SEE is a relentlessly brutal condemnation of war hidden in the guise of a surrealistic coming-of-age nightmare. A physically and emotionally draining viewing experience, the film follows Florya (played brilliantly by Alexei Kravchenko), a 12-year-old boy living in 1943 Byelorussia. When he digs up an abandoned gun, Florya gleefully signs up with the Russian Army, looking forward to life as a soldier. But that fantasy rapidly deteriorates when the reality of the situation confronts him head-on. Abandoned by his fellow comrades, he stumbles across the weeping Glasha (Olga Mironova), a pretty teenager who has also been left behind. Together, the pair returns to Florya's village only to discover that everyone has been slaughtered--Florya's mother and younger sisters included. The journey continues as Florya embarks on a mission to find food for the stranded inhabitants of a neighboring village. He eventually lands in the middle of another German massacre, where the animalistic Nazis stuff the Russians into a barn and torch it, obliterating Florya's innocence completely. Klimov's unflinching masterpiece is all the more affecting because of the beauty of its imagery. Working on a variety of levels, COME AND SEE speaks both as personal statement and broad metaphor, making it a timeless, unforgettable achievement.

	Alexei Kravchenko
	Liubomiras Lauciavicius
	Olga Mironova
	Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Composer
	Alexei Rodionov - Director of Photography
	Ales Adamovich - Screenwriter
	Elem Klimov - Screenwriter
	Oleg Yanchenko - Composer
	Elem Klimov - Director

Sight and Sound
"...[A] powerful war film....The director has elicited an excellent performance form his central actor Kravchenko..." 03/01/1987 p.140-1

New York Times
"...The history is harrowing and the presentation is graphic....Powerful material, powerfully rendered..." 02/06/1987 p.C4

Entertainment Weekly
"...Klimov alternates the horrors of war with occasional fairy tale-like images; together they imbue the film with an unapologetically disturbing quality that persists long after the credits roll..." 11/02/2001 p.57

Sight and Sound
"Klimov's astonishing war movie combines intense lyricism with the kind of violent bloodletting that would make even Sam Peckinpah pause." 05/01/2006 p.85