Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3956 in DVD
• Released on: 2006-04-24
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Dubbed, PAL
• Original language: Russian
• Subtitled in: English
• Dubbed in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 137 minutes

Synopsis
Elem Klimov's stunning COME AND SEE is a relentlessly brutal condemnation of war hidden in the guise of a surrealistic coming-of-age nightmare. A physically and emotionally draining viewing experience, the film follows Florya (played brilliantly by Alexei Kravchenko), a 12-year-old boy living in 1943 Byelorussia. When he digs up an abandoned gun, Florya gleefully signs up with the Russian Army, looking forward to life as a soldier. But that fantasy rapidly deteriorates when the reality of the situation confronts him head-on. Abandoned by his fellow comrades, he stumbles across the weeping Glasha (Olga Mironova), a pretty teenager who has also been left behind. Together, the pair returns to Florya's village only to discover that everyone has been slaughtered Florya's mother and younger sisters included. The journey continues as Florya embarks on a mission to find food for the stranded inhabitants of a neighbouring village. He eventually lands in the middle of another German massacre, where the animalistic Nazis stuff the Russians into a barn and torch it, obliterating Florya's innocence completely. Klimov's unflinching masterpiece is all the more affecting because of the beauty of its imagery. Working on a variety of levels, COME AND SEE speaks both as personal statement and broad metaphor, making it a timeless, unforgettable achievement.

Customer Reviews

a mixed bag....
The reviews this movie has received range from very high praise to utter dismissal. I think this depends on what individual viewers are looking for in the movie. In a way, I think that the portrayal of the extreme warfare led by both partisans and anti-partisan units in Russia during WW2 is masterfully delivered, with scenes that today may look even exceedingly bloody, but that were unfortunately quite common in that context. On the other hand, the story is way too slow to ensure "entertainment" for the viewer. The lead actor, a bielorussian kid, merely stares at the camera with a growing expression of pain and hatred for most of the time on screen. Photography and the set scenes are well done, but some acting is very wooden. Historical faithfullness of the equipment and vehicles is quite commendable. So, basically, if you are looking for a recreation of a brutal conflict, this product hits the mark. If you approach this movie to be entertained (quite an understandable expectation) you will very likely be disappointed: better stick to hollywood war movies, in this case.

Serious Soviet cinema.
For me this is Soviet cinema of the highest order. It is rich with symbolism that put me in mind of Tarkovsky's "Ivans War" and Eisenstein's "Strike!". The content is unflinchingly hardcore, the scene depicted on the DVD cover is masterfully shot, by this stage of the film you are immersed in a nightmare of, as the title suggests, biblical proportions, fire, smoke, screams to a soundtrack of yodelling... I knew nothing about the end sequence and advise anyone considering this film to avoid getting a clue about it because it is quite wonderful in my opinion.
The DVD is completed by full interviews with the main figures and 2 rare Soviet newsreels about the partisans.
Unforgettable.

Complete waste of a good nights viewing
I sat down to see yet again war from the Russian point of view and history. I may as well have gone to bed and got an extra 2 hours sleep.
The film was complete rubbish as well as the dubbing into English. It was so bad that I set the DVD to the original language with English sub-titles, not that this made the viewing any better to watch.I thought the film was over the top and although I could believe the barn burning with people and children inside, I think the rest of the film was poor acting with little substance. It was a complete waste of viewing time and am just happy that I did not make the wife sit through it with me.