'Come and See' by Elem Klimov Review: I didn't care for it

I have a genuine dislike for war films. I don't think there is anything really to them aside from pointing out the obvious that war is bad or instead glamourising war and one side in a particular manner that almost appears like an advertisement or attempt at justification. That is to say that ultimately every war film, regardless of the nation it comes from, is a form of propaganda. Particularly evident in most war films, and just as evident in Come and See. A Soviet era film that details the horrors the people lived through at the hands of the Nazis that genocided and displayed zero regard for life whatsoever throughout their campaign through the lands they occupied.

Come and See is a film I have known about for many, many years now but never really put in the effort to watch due to it being a war film. I had seen many clips from it, and heard many stories of elements regarding its production: how real ammunition was used and how the cast could hear the rounds as they passed over their heads. In my case, this never really appealed to me. Whether they used real ammunition or not plays no real importance over the production, and seems more of an excuse to just give everyone PTSD rather than tell their intended story. We cycle back to the idea of the war film mentioned above.

War films always go about attempting to appear either cool or horrifying. Displaying explosions, gunfire, and the stories of those caught between in their struggle to either survive or accomplish a mission. Come and See is a film that details nothing more than the horrors of World War 2. Though outside of that, it feels incredibly shallow.

Come and See holds a narrative that is slow, but features constant movement. The story of a young male that gets caught up in the horrors of World War 2 as the Nazis begin to spread throughout Belorussia -- these days we refer to it as Belarus in case your history isn't great -- and destroy villages one-by-one, genociding them all in a bid to remove the communists they considered to be diseased and lesser. The intensity of these horrors increases as the film progresses, and we also witness the changes in our protagonist as he barely escapes with his life from one location to the next, physically changing in his appearance as if to have aged years over the span of days.

The film continues on to display various aspects of sheer cruelty found within the war at the hands of the Nazis: the destruction they leave in their path. The total disregard for not only human life as they kill all citizens with not a single bit of empathy, as well as their total disregard for any life as animals and nature ends up in their paths only to destroyed. This is most of the film as it attempts to appear as close to a nightmare as possible. Few other characters are introduced as they are not all that necessary. We merely see the young boy's struggles with one group of people to the next as the war rages on.

I mentioned above that the film used live ammunition in scenes, we see the tracer rounds flying through the sky in a strong red in the darkness of night, including a scene where a real cow ends up being killed by them. I find it quite ironic that the film portrays the Nazis in such a destructive manner when the production itself chose a similar direction. Again we fall back to that propaganda. Of course we are to be horrified by such scenes, but our direction is pointed towards the perspectives of the young and innocent citizens caught up, and we see how animals are seen in the same way as humans of the other side.

These horrors continue on as the Nazis become almost cartoonishly evil. We see close-up shots of their faces as they laugh and smile as they carry out these cruel actions. The directing has these actors look directly into the camera as if to say they laugh at us and that we are those citizens being sentenced to death. I see the impact here, but it does not mean anything to me. Events and the methods of detailing them became so cartoonishly evil that they lost their weight on me. Around the midway point I was certainly starting to lose interest in the film, as it had already exhausted the idea it was attempting to portray, but wanted to go the extra mile to make the audience feel as exhausted as the characters.

Come and See is a film that does not really have a great story to it, but is a war film that attempts to shock you with a slow moving set of misery, sucking out your emotions and energy to the point where you too feel numb. I have seen this many times before, but ultimately done better.

One thing I did like in parts was how the film was photographed. Some of the visuals are very beautiful. Albeit very cold, dark, and emotionless in an attempt to tire you out and leave you with nothing. Much of the film was shot with a Steadicam, which I can admit to being quite impressive for the decade it was shot. Where the Steadicam was still relatively new to the world of filmmaking and somewhat undeveloped as an idea. The Steadicam use allows for the film to maintain that constant exhaustion through motion, as the character's movement never really ends. We get different perspectives through this as we follow our character around but get views from the Nazis directly. Moments in which the camera are perfectly still are definitely considered with attention; close-up perspectives as to show a portait for example.

Outside of this, however, there really is not much to the film. It prides itself on its attempt to be psychological and use the horrors of war to impact its audience. For some I am sure it worked very well, particularly due to the praise this film gets. For me, it really did not do much. It was certainly as lifeless as intended, mixing the stories of innocence and the loss of it through war. Everything within the film really does emphasise cruelty to life itself, by life itself. But as someone that really struggles to find the motivation to even watch an action film, let alone a war film, I just did not care.

As is the case with most Soviet-era films, Come and See is a depressing, slow whine that details the struggles and suffering of the Soviet people. Remove the trivia regarding its production, and there really isn't anything to it. I found it as shallow as Tarkovsky's films. It's about as hollow as the dark themes it tries to manipulate your emotions with.

Having finally seen it, I don't recommend it. I don't think it's really worthy of your time. I think we both know war is bad. I think we both know that the Nazis were pretty evil people. If you didn't know that somehow, well you now do and don't need to spend two hours hearing about it. I did that part for you. Despite its themes on cruelty and attempting to shock you, I think the film is in fact incredibly forgettable. I'd be surprised if I remember much from it within a week.