Come And See (Idi I Smortri)

Elem Klimov, USSR 1986, 142 minutes

The film, set in 1943 depicts the German invasion of ByeloRussia and follows the story of a young child and failed partisan, Florya, and the effects the war have on him.

The film is reminiscent of Dante's Inferno as one sees what starts off as a child turn into a shell, a shadow of his former self. He sees first, his village and family wiped out and then a nearby town being ethnically cleansed.

The film is harrowing to watch and the images can be almost unwatchable, not even the most insensitive of audiences could fail to be affected. However Come and See is balanced by a lyrical poeticism, particularly where Florya and a partisan girl Rose, visit the forest after the bombing, Florya's tinitus due to the bombing and an injured stork wandering through the clearing symbolising the disorientation of Mother Russia. This scene in the forest is probably one of the most beautiful scenes shot in cinema, while always leaving one aware of the imminent danger it is juxtaposed with.

Klimov was famous for his historical fact-based films, breaking barriers by being the first Russian film-maker ever to feature Rasputin and duly landing himself in deep water. However what perhaps does not become apparent until the end of the film was this was an ethnic cleansing on a huge scale with many entire towns and village simply being torched because the cryogenically obsessed Nazis felt they were of "inferior stock."

The figures tally up to similar levels as were killed in the Holocaust but, due to Cold War propaganda, this is rarely a fact that pops up in Western history books. It was however used to "educate" East German teenagers and several former East German friends who I met were forced to watch this film to educate them about the possibility of another rise of Fascism when the GDR was still in the Eastern Bloc.

Come and See is essentially an anti-war movie. Although the film is "emotionally devastating", with the main character turning from innocent child to war weary shell, the beautiful scenes in the forest compensate for it.

The film won the Grand Prix at the Moscow Film Festival and Klimov has recently been named Head of the Russian Film makers Union.

Probably the most visually stunning film this reviewer has ever seen - definitely one to COME AND SEE.

Review by Stephen J Brennan
Taken from EUFS Programme 1997-98