The title says it all, "Come and See"

Rating: 9/10 (26 July 2011)

Instantly when I hear World War II I think about the holocaust. I think about the six million Jews, who were mulishly murder. I think about how 2.8 million non-Jewish Poles risked their lives during World War II. I then think about how World War II was one of the deadliest wars ever with an estimated death toll of 62 to 78 million deaths. Come and See takes you on a very emotional journey about the story of a Belorussian boy, who is forced into the violence of war. It is an atrocious and brutal movie, but it is a story told like no other. We often see many movies about the Holocaust and Word War II, this movie is different. It is a coming of age movie about a young boy who is stripped of his innocence when he thinks he wants to join the Soviets.
We all know that war is a very hardcore and blood shedding scene. At first war is glamorized in Come and See, until Florya gets a taste for reality and really experiences war, but he continues to fight. This movie is very draining and emphasizes on the truth of World War II. We follow Florya until the end of the movie and we see an aged image of his face and we really realize how much impact the war had on this blameless kid's life. Klimov does not take any mercy on the audience and goes all out during the movie. There is a scene when the Germans are setting a barn filled with children and adults on fire and they are banging on the doors, fighting for their lives to escape. You cannot help but sit and cringe in your seat. To know that this really happened, that yes this is just a movie but during that time era the Nazis were murdering millions of people. What was more disturbing for me was when the civilians were getting burned to ashes; the Germans were laughing and celebrating. I could not help but think in what kind of unjust world we live in. After World War II we said "Never Again", but genocide still occurs. After watching Come and See I realized many new things about war. It opened up the door to the truth for me.
Watching Come and See I realized we cannot just blame Hitler for all of this mass destruction. This movie really opened p my views on the war and helped me understand World War II on a bigger scale. Now when I think of World War II I do not just think about the Jews, but everyone who was involved. Come and See is a great movie. it is very different, and it can be disturbing at times, but it is very moving and it changed my view on the war.