Come and See

Come and See, also titled Idi i smotri, is a film I will never forget. I am still thinking about it and will be for a very long time. It is not "entertainment" but a history lesson, a LIFE lesson. This is a rare glimpse into the Soviet side of World War II as seen through the eyes of a 13 year old boy. The film is based on the real life experiences of Ales Adamovich, who fought with the Russian partisans against the Nazi regime 1n Belarus in 1943.We were not taught about the Soviet side of WWII in my public school. I had never heard of the 600 villages and all the inhabitants being systemactically wiped out by the Nazis. Both Elem Klimov and Ales Adamovich wrote the screen play with Klimov directing. The film gives you a true sense of what this young boy not only saw but felt and even heard. While watching, I felt as if I had climbed into this once young,innocent heart and soul and experienced all he had gone through.The acting from Aleksei Kravchenko is as if he were channeling the spirit of the dead. His acting is somewhat supernatural. I love great film and have watched many many films of this nature but have never seen anything like this particular film. It is incredibly violent, nothing is too gruesome too show. Nothing is omitted for the sake of the audience. It is a film of the horrors of war. It has something I did NOT see in Schindlers List, Platoon, Galapoli,Apocolypse Now,The Deer Hunter or even Night and Fog,to name just a few of the best. The acting,is truly incredible right down to every single extra. The lighting and music are haunting and I will never hear certain pieces of Mozart quite the same again. If you could somehow transfer the feelings of the words "Insanity,Courage,Cowardice and Hopelessness onto cellonoid you might find yourself watching either this film or have traveled back to 1943 in the mind of the boy, Flor. I would love to see this film become part of every schools curiculum. All children aged 13 and up should see this film. I can already hear mothers saying they are too young to view this much violence and how it would traumatize them. I disagree and think most of the crap kids of that age group watch are just as violent as this movie if not more so. The same goes for the videos they watch. The difference is the violence in THIS film is powerful and thought provoking enough to make young men and women think twice about the realities and consequences of any WAR. This is such an important film. I am amazed I had never heard of it until a few days ago, where I found it listed on an IMDb list of movies that deserve more recognition. It was awarded the Grand Prix in 1985 at the Moscow Film Festival but for whatever reason did not get the public attention it should have. I thank AMAZON for having this piece of history available for rent and would recommend everyone watch it at least once. Again, this is not a movie that will entertain you. It is NOT going to make you feel good about the world we live in and will make you ask yourself the hard questions we'd rather not think about. It is the absolute best film about the horrors of war, the loss of innocence, the insidious nature of human beings and a film that should not be tucked away on a shelf. I would love to see this film get the attention it so deserves. The actual archived footage of Hitler and the insanity which took hold of millions of people remind us of who we are and what we are capable of. HIstory continues to repeat itself and I believe great films such as this should be made widely available. You will never forget the last 10 minutes of this film. You will never forget the madness and agony reflected in the eyes of what was once an innocent child. Hopefully, a film such as this reminds us to Never Forget.

Most (on a site such as this) will view this as an example of war film and come with certain expectations to see a narrative emphasizing some combination of the following: valiant heroism, representations of despotism and inhumane evil behavior, symbolic figures of tragedy in the story, a moral tone which emphasizes either the basic good of humanity or the defilement thereof by certain wartime historical actors. Others will want to see this as an inextricably ideological film with a pro-Soviet white-washing bias.I would just suggest that to approach a film such as this with those expectations is very limiting. The film stands out as an exceptional moment in the history of Soviet cinema - in particular, the moment of perestroika in the 1980s. If you have not seen much Soviet cinema, it might be difficult to recognize how vastly different this is from film made under Stalinist controls, or even under the looser controls of the post-Stalinist period sometimes referred to as "the thaw." So, let me just put this very bluntly... this film is *radical* in the history of Soviet cinema and is a monument to the changes happening in Soviet culture in its last decade.This was an era of reform in the USSR, politically, socially, diplomatically and economically and if you pay enough attention you can see how this film is crying out in response to the pain, anxiety, and ecstasy of those changes. There is a scene in which two of the characters meet in the woods and, without conversation, weep uncontrollably. I am sure this might seem strange, even exaggerated to those used to the controlled and narratively-motivated displays of emotion in Hollywood films, but here strikes us as both the spontaneous outburst of trauma which is both individual to these two youthful characters (forced into a desperate and impossible position of being told to join the fight to hold back the German invasion) and universal to the people of the nation (which, we the audience, know is about to be decimated and slaughtered in unimaginable numbers by an army and an ideology which intends to not only occupy them, but enslave them.)It might also be worth keeping in mind that the relationship between Russian/Soviet culture and the memory of the Second World War is substantially different from that in America and Western Europe. American films about the war in Europe have emphasized, again and again, one of two things (1) battle histories and stories set in Normandy, the Low Countries and Germany (and sometimes Italy), and (2) the Holocaust and Nazi ideological actors, by and large focusing on the crime of the systematic mass murder of Jewish peoples - or the mindset and actions of those responsible for it. This has informed the Western cultural memory of the war in big ways. However, the Russian memory of the war, for obvious reasons, has emphasized Hitler's intentions and actions against Slavic peoples. [One might condemn the Russian/Soviet point-of-view, here for de-emphasizing the memory of Jews; but, if so, then one must also condemn the American/Western point-of-view for often (if not usually) forgetting the Slavs.] What is, nonetheless, pertinent to this film is that confronted with this historical memory of the Russian experience of the Second World War, it gives its (Soviet) audience pure horror, trauma, and a story of absolute loss and defeat. There is *none* of the historical white-wash of those histories which earlier Russian films might have been guilty of. There is no heroic figure or outcome - no ultimate victory at Stalingrad. Instead, we have a boy thrust into the middle of something he was ill-equipped and emotional ill-prepared to handle. That there is a perestroika commentary on Soviet "victories" against Hitler

Buen testimonio de la Segunda Guerra

これ、衝撃作です！！

Terrore allo stato puroNulla di questo film potrà farti dimenticare il dramma della guerra sugli uominiPer me assieme a Das Boot è il massimo capolavoro sul cinema di guerra.Esistono i sottotitoli in Italiano

Superbe film décrivant les horreurs de l'opération "Barbarossa" par les nazis qui visaient rien moins que l'éradication des peuples Slaves.Il faut savoir que 17% de la population Russe a été victime de cet holocauste dont on parle peu aujourd'hui et que ce conflit a généré plus de vingt six millions de victimes pour la seule Union Soviétique de l'époque.Pour la région Bielorusse où se passe l'action de ce film, située entre la frontière de la Pologne et Minsk la capitale actuelle de la Bielorussie, il y a eu 628 villages rayés de la carte, toute population confondue, civils de tous âges, enfermés dans des granges, des églises, et mitraillés, grenadés, incendiés, assassinés: Six cent vingt huit Oradour sur Glane sur une distance d'environ trois cent kilomètres plus ou moins.Si les Russes, le couteau sous la gorge, n'avaient pas réagi dans un ultime réflexe de survie, le tournant de la seconde guerre mondiale aurait été tout autre.Pour le film lui même, je commente ici la version que j'ai achetée c'est à dire Double DVD avec le film lui même que l'on peut visionner soit en français, soit en VO sous titrée, mais le français direct est préférable si vous voulez avoir une traduction un peu correcte, car les sous titres de la VO en français sont vraiment très mauvais ce qui est dommage.Le mieux étant bien entendu de comprendre le Russe.Le second DVD est intéressant, lui aussi, et vous fera passer un bon moment, car le Metteur en Scène parle de son oeuvre, ainsi que l'artiste principal de son rôle et des péripéties avant, pendant (il a failli réellement se noyer en tournant une des scènes du film dans un marécage, et d'autres scènes tournées à balles réelles lui ont valu de manquer se faire écraser sous une vache ayant pris une balle.) et après, le tournage, et les premières retombées de diffusion de l'oeuvre sur sa carrière.Les images sont dures, mais comme il a déjà été dit, par d'autres intervenants, très belles, une sorte de beauté poétique décalée totalement, par rapport à l'horreur des situations.Totalement à l'opposé de ce que l'on peut voir dans les superproductions Américaines, où un seul Héro sauve son pays et la planète entière...Il y a quelques images "documents archives" à la limite de l'insoutenable, qui font qu'il faut être prévenu pour les jeunes enfants et adultes sensibles.Pour ceux qui n'ont jamais vu les vraies horreurs de cette guerre, vous risquez d'en être marqués, et ne pas en sortir indemne.Sans conteste l'oeuvre parmi les plus réalistes que j'ai pu voir sur les horreurs de la guerre à l'Est, avec "Ils ont combattu pour la Patrie" de Sergueï Bondartchouk que vous trouverez facilement.Dans un autre genre, plus conventionnel, il y a également deux chefs d'oeuvres:1)Stalingrad qui est l'histoire du Héro de la Russie Vassili Zaïtsev, tireur d'élite soviétique de la Seconde Guerre mondiale; qui tua 225 (Certaines sources disent 242, et que la vérité serait plus proche des 500) soldats tireurs d'élite et officiers de la Wehrmacht et de ses alliés entre le 10 novembre et le 17 décembre 1942 pendant la bataille de Stalingrad. et dont le Mosin Nagant est encore exposé aujourd'hui au Musée des Armées de Volgograd (anciennement Stalingrad) là où il repose.2) Les insurgés, qui pour être un film "romancé" à la manière de Stalingrad, n'en reste pas moins très émouvant et beau.Il s'agit pour ce dernier de l'histoire véridique de trois frères Juifs Polonais, les Bielsky; qui ayant appris les déportations et autres horreurs, décident de prendre le maquis et se battre, lutter pour leur survie au lieu de subir arrestations et déportations.Pour ce qui est de Requiem pour un Massacre, dont le titre original est Idi i smotri signifiant "Viens et vois" tiré de la Bible, je l'avais vu sur Youtube en version complète, mieux sous titrée que celle là où les sous titres sont parfois limites désuets et presque hors sujet, heureusement, la version parlée en Français sauve un peu le désastre de cette VO ST...Je suis tout de même très content de mon achat, et pense que c'est une oeuvre à avoir dans sa vidéothèque.Film très très fort émotionnellement comme seul les Russes, avec cette poésie décalée, savent les créer...Ceux qui auront vu "Potemkine" sauront de quoi je parle...Bons achats sur Amazon

Ein besonders sehenswerter Film, da er aus dem russischen Kulturraum stammt und deswegen anders funktioniert als Hollywood Filme. Der Film selbst ist grandios und in keiner Weise etwas, was man unter der Sovjetzensur erwartet hätte. Ganz großes Antikriegskino. Ist aber wirklich nicht für jeden, da der Film sehr, sehr grausam ist. Nicht in der expliziten Gewaltdarstellung sondern in der Alptraumhaften Darstellung der Kriegsverbrechen und deren normal oder nahezu Volksfest ähnlichen Durchführung auf Seiten der Deutschen. Dazu noch tolle Hauptdarsteller, Musik, Bildkompositionen und ein paar Extras. Bild ist nicht so toll, aber der Film ist ja von '85 und so gut, dass ich die Kleinigkeiten verschmerzen kann. Ist sogar so gut, dass ich die relativ teuren 25€ nicht bereue. Unheimlich gut, und unheimlich verstörend und aufwühlend.