War is hell!
A teenage boy wants to take part in the war against the Germans in WW2, and he is allowed to join when he finds a rifle. But his big smile will soon disappear. He will turn into an old soul in a short time.
After watching the movie, it feels as if someone has beaten you down and pressed your face into the mud. What is wrong with us humans? Was the question I asked myself when the movie was over. What makes us humans do such things to each other? What the hell is wrong with us?
I have never experienced war, but of all the war movies I have watched, Come and See is the one that I feel is closest to madness as I imagine it.
In the first half, we see nothing of the Germans. Then it rains bombs in a forest, and the scene with Flyora and Glasha is magical in a horrifying way. It is almost like poetry. The cinematography is amazing. The movie is beautiful to look at, and it feels like you are a prisoner in a hellish nightmare.
The scene when Flyora is looking for his mother, and Glasha sees something horrible, has been burned into my mind. The last act with the German soldiers is some of the most terrifying and brutal things I have ever witnessed in a movie. There are vehicles, grenades, flamethrowers, machine guns, nerve-wracking suspense, and a massacre. The madness we see here is something I have never experienced before in a war movie. Thank God for that.
The director Elem Klimov never loses control. He is steady, and he has full control of everything that is going on in this beautiful and terrifying movie. As a viewer, you are in a trance-like state in a nightmare you cannot escape from.
My favorite scene in the whole movie is when Glasha has her monologue scene. What a sick and disturbing scene. And the acting is unbelievable. And the actress is also hot as hell. It cannot get any better. The sad thing is that it was her first and last role. She did not act in other movies. She was 35 years old when the movie was made. She is so great in Come and See. Why did she not continue as a movie actor?
The actors are excellent, and Aleksey Kravchenko, who plays the protagonist, is amazing. In the beginning, you get the urge to hit him hard in the face since he is looking forward to taking part in the war. Towards the end, you want someone to shoot him in the head to spare him. If he survives the war, his soul will be dead, and his brain will torment him for the rest of his life. He is better off dead.
I have watched Come and See two times, and I do not think I can ever watch it again. I understand those who call the movie the most realistic war movie ever made, and many think it is the best war movie ever made. I think they are right.
Do not expect epic battle scenes. Here, we follow a young and naive teenager who is not ready for what he will experience. No one is. As viewers, we witness the transformation of a young and naive mind, and we see him get older after every scene when reality comes knocking on his door. He should never have experienced the horrors of war. No one should. It drains you of energy. You do not see the light at the end of the tunnel. The only thing we see is madness.
The closest movie I can think of that matches the same qualities as Come and See is the fantastic The Deer Hunter. It is a brutal and emotional movie that grabs you by the throat, and it does not let you out of its grip. Come and See and The Deer Hunter are two movies that have left their mark on me. Watch these two movies in a row, then put on the album Amsterdam Stranded by Midnight Choir. Then I am sure your life force will be gone forever. You will feel darkness and emptiness forever and ever.