Come and See, and I saw....

Rating: 10/10 (20 March 2006)

A common practice nowadays in cinema, both internationally and locally, is the method of surrealism. The ultra hype active and somewhat dizzy views of what would be a normal situation (or in most causes, a situation that has been unfortunate) has almost become staple for many Hollywood directors who want people to see a picture differently than how they should see it. Filmmakers like Terrance Malick and Tony Scott, who use fast paced editing and dramatic monologues in the middle of their films which at times seem unnecessary. But Surrealism is a sort of message, subtle sometimes, other times rather blunt, that speaks of an image that is quite obvious at time. Probably the best example of this is Elem Klimov's film.
The 1985 Soviet Union cinema-masterpiece, "Come and See", originally titled "Idi i smotri" (which loosely translates in Russian for "Go and See") is a story that sends a message out rather vaguely. In fact, there's no message. Or is there? We are sent back in time to 1943 in the middle of the carnage of Eastern Europe during World War II. In the country of Byelorussia (modern day Belarus), a young boy named Florya wants to join the peasants of the town to fight against the Nazi horde. At the very beginning, he is a young and naive boy. He digs in abandon battlefields with his friend, searching for a rifle so he can fight. He finds a dirty old Simonov AVS-36 which is highly unlikely that it will ever fire again. He then joins up with the ranks in the prehistoric forests which represent a type of surrealistic surge of unending confusion and lost. As the peasants march onto the next town, they leave Florya behind, probably for his own good. Crying and in despair, he meets a young girl, Glasha. She paints of picture of a life beautiful is all aspects, with hell being so close by. She tells Florya that he is "blind and deaf, and cannot hear me". Not long after, the Germans invade and the forests are bombed. Floyra goes temporarily deaf when a bomb hits nearby, a high pitch whine that streams his hearing (a method used later in Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan"). They make it back to Florya town, only to find that nobody is there. Florya goes under a midst of shock and denial, as he races toward a nearby swamp thinking his mother and two sisters are there hiding; unbeknowanced to him, but to Glasha, a quick disturbing glance shows Florya's mother and sisters are dead and their naked bodies, along with several other villagers, are merely disposed behind his house. Florya begins to loose his sanity, while keeping some intact. He and Glasha go to another good of peasants, searching for food as the Germans exiled them to the forest. Florya joins up with more fighters, but one by one they are all taken down. He wanders aimlessly until he comes across a town with SS stormtroopers invading, raping and pillaging all of the villagers. It is there when the surreal image becomes distorted and twisted, as the invaders gleefully set fire to a church full of civilians and applaud at the majesty of the chaos. At that point, Florya grows up and becomes man, but more a shell of a man. His image of maturity and adulthood has been shattered at the horror of war and the atrocities that follow. In the final scene, unable to bear anymore chaos, he takes his rifle (which he never shoots in the entire film) and fires away at a picture of Adolf Hitler, which reverses time and all of the events of WWII, all the way back to a picture of a baby Hitler, which Florya cannot bear to shoot.
Without of a doubt, "Come and See" is a film than can be analyzed and studied for days, even weeks. The image of Glasha as a innocent and beautiful peasant girl shows purity and calmness to the tense situation, while Florya is a brass and immature symbol. Klimov uses such imagery to shake the viewer into submission. The Nazi atrocities scenes are by far, the most disturbing that the viewer cannot bear to watch in one sitting (I found them far more horrifying than the "liquadation" scene in "Schindler's List"), especially the aftermath, when the stormtroopers and officers are captured by the peasant; some of them plead that they were "following orders" (a subtle hint to the Nuremberg trials), others openly admit without flinching that they are here to "extermanate the Bolsehvik race". "Come and See" is horror, and not the type that you see in Wes Craven films; this is TRUE horror. The surrealistic vision of the nightmare is uninhabited and chaotic that grabs you by the throat and doesn't let you go. Every scene, more and more tension builds.
The acting in the film is flawless, to a point where none of it seems like acting. Everyone seems burnt out and disturbed. Aleksei Kravchenko does a marvelous job as Florya, where his uncanny skills of growing up in a manner of the way on screen is brilliant. The rest of the cast is Russian, so you won't see any big names in her, nor will you recognize. But without a doubt, it's deep film. You must watch "Come and See", even if you're a film buff, a war buff, or simply looking for a lesson in history. Go and see....