Movie of memory

Rating: 10/10 (27 July 2009)

"Come and See" requires a few days to let it fully sink in. It presents events as remembered, not as recorded, a movie of memories: not as experienced in the sense of the audience seeing or hearing what the protagonist sees or hears - but seeing events in the form they take in a person's mind, with all the power and flaws of human memory. The film is therefore episodic, disjointed, lacks scenes that would explain, has scenes that go on for a long time, lacks a story-line, shows events in a seemingly haphazard manner and at times makes little or no sense. These are the ragged memories of a boy who starts out naive and full of patriotic intentions, but by the end has possibly lost his mind. The memories of a half-mad traumatized boy in the form of images he has had seared into his mind. This is the best anti-war movie I have ever seen.