Confrontational war movie.

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2012)

Come and See is a very impressive film that almost literally leaves you shaking after the camera tilts up to the sky in the final shot. It proves that war movies can only be made effectively when they are not visually and narratively sugar coated. For one, because this is cinematically more interesting and relevant, but more importantly because it does more justice to the people that underwent the atrocities of that particular war. "Come and see" is a tribute to the people in the former Soviet Union that were affected by Nazi atrocities. A tribute to those who died and to the survivors of the Nazi invasion. Visually it is a raw movie, allowing us to see what this war and war in general is like. It warns us how people can follow evil blindly and become dehumanized killing machines. And by showing this in every ugly detail we actually come as close as possible to knowing what went on in this Belarusian village. It does justice to those that died and suffered. Just as "Schindler's List" pays tribute to the six million Jews that were killed by the Nazis. Just as "The Deer Hunter" did justice to the soldiers that came back from Vietnam with post traumatic stress disorder. The point is that these movies were dramatic, but not melodramatic in its depiction of the premise to allow the viewer as accurate a depiction of the events that took place as is possible. "Come and See" is a very powerful movie that depicts the resiliency of a lesser equipped Partisan force that beat the Nazis. It also shows us that war can make numb, but that numb doesn't mean dehumanized. This shows in how Flyora shoots at the the portrait of Hitler in the montage sequence, but finally cannot pull the trigger when his thoughts portray Hitler as a baby. Klimov's message is that Flyora becomes the same as the Nazis if he'd shoot the baby picture, just like the general is saying in the scene before when he decides that the Nazis shouldn't be burned. They would stoop down to the animalistic level of the Nazis that we saw in the barn scene. Flyora joins the Partisans as a boy that is hardened by life, but still a human thinker fighting for a just cause. "Come And See" is a must see movie both for the messages that it conveys to us, but also because it is a very well crafted movie by a smart director.