Review LXXXVI - Come and See

Review LXXXVI
Come and See (Иди и смотри) (1985)

I mentioned this film in my last review and, surprisingly, I actually watched it. Come and See, known in Russian as Иди и смотри and in Belarusian as Ідзі і глядзi, directed by Elem Klimov, is notorious for being absolutely heartwrenching and melancholic. In fact, this was the director's last film as he felt he had done all he could artistically after that film. The film stars Aleksei Kravchenko as our protagonist.

The movie begins with an old man yelling at two children to stop digging for rifles in Nazi-occupied Byelorussian SSR. One of the boys, Florya Gaishun (Kravchenko), manages to find an abandoned rifle, allowing him to join the resistance - Soviet partisan forces. He is excited and all ready to leave, even as he is dragged out of his house against his mother's wishes. Soon, however, Florya will be shown the realities of World War II and his innocence and naiveté will be lost forever.

So what did I think about Come and See? Well, one, I'll say that, for a Russian film, it was not too lengthy and slow. If you've ever seen a Russian film or read a Russian book, you know what I'm talking about. This film is not bordering four hours, and sometimes I felt scenes were unnecessarily long, but the film wasn't unbearable. However, it terms of content, well, that's a different story. Come and See's characters were not really likeable, but damn, did that ending just destroy you. I mean, as I always say, it's hard for me to relate and I have been desensitised to such viewings, but the final portraits are hard-hitting. The content itself is depressing and scary. However, I'd have to say that the film as a whole can be hard to digest because of the long shots where nothing really happens. Apparently the artillery is also not realistic (tracer rounds shot five hundred times at one point), but I have no knowledge of that, so I can't really talk about it. But again, you have that hard-hitting ending. And I will admit, the portraits throughout are grand. You get pictures of people's faces and they're well shot. But I can't say this film really met every standard I thought it would have. It's depressing, yes, but I couldn't care for the characters at all. In this way, it really lost a lot of the closeness I expected from it. You see a child forced to grow up and faced with such psychological torture, but if you don't care for the child, you lose a lot out of the film.

I find you would watch this film more for the ending and to say that yes, you did watch Come and See, but as an overall film, it is not that stupendous, minus the brilliant portraits. Now I'm off to enjoy the rest of my last day off for summer 2014. Take care, guys.

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