Cinema World Tour, Film #16
Country: Belarus (as part of the USSR)
Rating: 9/10
„And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say: Come and See. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.“ - The Bible, Bool of Revelation, Chapter 6
Director Elem Klimov stopped making films after Come and See, explaining that he reached his peak and accomplished everything he wanted. I admire him for making this fantastic film as well for this unusual decision.
Come and See should find a place in most „Best Films of All Time“-lists. It's a disturbing, brutal and shocking film which will show you how cruel the Germans truly were during World War 2. It doesn't show you the Hollywood version, the few killings in Saving Private Ryan for example. Looking back now to all other war films I've seen, they almost feel ridiculous – as if some directors used the war to make cool, entertaining films out of it. Come and See is still relatively fresh in my mind and I probably need some days to think about it, but I think this could be the most important anti-war-film ever made. A film about the cruelties and atrocities commited by the Germans should be nothing else than disturbing, literally a nightmare in film form.
The film isn't perfect, though. While in the beginning, it remains difficult to connect with the film and the whole first hour feels a bit old-fashioned, a bit unbelievable (the story with the girl, Glasha, for example – why would she be so weird in the beginning? Why would she follow Flyora through this fucking mud??), the second half is undeniably a masterpiece. It gets better and better until Come and See reaches a breathtaking climax. While the German thinks it's right to kill babies for the sake of the future, the ending asks us exactly this question: if you had the opportunity to kill Hitler when he was a baby, would you?
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