Come and See

Rating: 10/10 (6 February 2011)

Klimov's film Come and See is a Soviet war movie that takes place in Belorussia and is hands down the most visually powerful and intense movie I have ever seen about the Second World War. Growing up learning about my Jewish history, automatically I connect World War II with the holocaust. This movie did a great job in reminding me and making people aware that the Jews in the Holocaust were not the only people devastated by the horrific acts of the Nazis. Watching this movie, I certainly was unable to keep my eyes open 40% of the time due to terrible things we had to witness! It all begins with a naive young boy named Florya who is ignorantly excited about going to serve in the war simply because he wants to shoot a gun, just like any typical young boy would. As the film continues, Florya is in for a rude awakening and learns that war is not at all heroic nor is it glorious (like Hollywood tends to portray it to be).
Florya first arrives to the camp as a "new comer" and is not only humiliated but also devastated that he is asked to stay behind and give his shoes to an older man. When Florya is left behind, he wanders around and faces an encounter with Glasha, who has also been left behind by her boyfriend who went to fight in the war. Glasha and Florya are equally as heartbroken as the other, and in this scene where they both begin crying in agony and end with laughter you begin to feel there emotions as well. What stood out to me was when Glasha says "I want to Love... I want to have babies," for the reason that they are words that symbolize hope, and wishes for a future to come. Most people would lose this sense of hope and faith in such a situation where their entire existence is being threatened. Sure enough, right after the two meet, a bomb falls over them and they both survive.
Another significant factor in this film is the gun that Florya had been carrying since the beginning of the film with so much pride. Although he has been dying to use it, he hadn't shot it a single time. The only time when he finally uses his gun is in the very end of the film which becomes one of the most memorable and symbolic scenes of the entire movie. Right before they were about to leave the horrific village which had been destroyed by the Nazis, Florya spots a portrait of Hitler within the ruins of the town.
In this montage-like scene, Florya's mind is tracing back the most significant events of the Second World War. As his mind is racing through these mental images of Hitler, he is shooting his gun at the portrait recklessly, with so much rage and agony on his face. The images go all the way back to a picture of Hitler as an infant, sitting in his mother's lap, where Florya freezes and does not shoot his gun but stares at Hitler as a baby. Here, Klimov gives us time to reflect and interpret the meaning of Florya not shooting on our own.
This scene instantly connects back to the scene when the Nazi's locked hundreds of people in a room and lit them up in flames. Right before they lit the room, a Nazi soldiers says, "Those without children can leave, It all starts when you are a child." To me, Florya's choice to not kill the infant Hitler shows the bit of dignity and decency that he had left in him, not allowing him to stoop down to the immoral level of the Nazi's.