Wow, great!

Rating: 10/10 (15 June 2009)

In 'Come and See', one could watch the ugliness of war through the main character Floyra. For instance, after the bombs dropped in the forest, Florya lost his hearing. The audience hears the sound perspective of Florya when there is a loud ringing noise and muted sound of words. Other sounds the audience hears are echoing words and/or erratic noises. It feels dream like with muffled noise and bits of music here and there. Surprisingly enough, there is no voice over narrative (because we are so in tune to Florya and his experience).
In addition, the characters were was dimensional and interesting. When Glasha was dancing on the box in the forest, it seemed theater like. One conjures up a life of hers before the war, working on a vaudeville type stage. She also seemed to have knowledge beyond her years. Maybe from working? Or from her experience of war time. She says the general will die, as if she has seen death before. This is in contrast to Florya's character who is so innocent and ignorant of evil in the world.
Other contrasts in the movie are when a man holds a sign that says, "Hitler the Liberator," right before the town massacre. Another contrasting shot during the rape and pillage of the town is of a Nazi lady who calmly eats lobster while she plays classical music. The very next shot is of the church in flames, burning people alive. Most shocking and horrific is the long shot and close up of the girl who was brutally beaten and raped by a truck load of Nazis. Again the terror of it all is manifested on Florya's point of view shots and the look on his aging face.
Toward the end of the film Florya shoots at Hitler's picture with the slogan of liberation. Then, young boy who is dressed like Floyra in the beginning of the movie appears. He is the "new comer" and Floyra is now the experienced one. The toll of war is written all over his face with wrinkles and tears. With this Florya is still telling us his story.
The end is very poetic. There is a long take of the beautiful forest and gentle snow falling. Then the audience sees the triumph of human spirit of Floyra, and the rag tag band that drove the Nazis out of the Soviet Union, moving out. This is accompanied by a swelling Mozart score. The band and Florya, our now grown up protagonist and character narrator to the story, march out of sight.