COME AND SEE
(1985, Klimov)
"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. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."
The above quote comes from the Book of Revelation, in the Bible. In it, the Apostle John tells of a vision of hunger, murder, and death. Some people say the writings are historical, referring to the persecution of Christians, or maybe the fall of Rome, while others see it as prophetical, speaking of things to come. The quote is never mentioned in the film, but after seeing it, it's pretty obvious why writer/director Elem Klimov chose it as the title of this film. Set in 1943,
Come and See follows Flyora (Aleksey Kravchenko), a poor, young kid from Belarus who joins his country's Resistance despite his mother's reluctance. As a result, he finds himself in the middle of the Nazi occupation of the country witnessing and suffering all sorts of atrocities.
For the first half, the film moves at a deliberate, slow pace as Flyora tries to blend in with the members of the Resistance, and befriends a young girl called Glasha (Olga Mironova) while guarding the camp. This first half is not without its tough parts, as we get to see Flyora dealing with feelings of alienation, an air strike, hunger, and the death of loved ones. However, when the second half kicks in, the film takes a turn for the truly horrible. As Flyora seeks refuge in a small village, an SS unit occupies it and starts torturing, raping, and killing people. The visceral way in which all this unfolds truly feels like hell. The whole barn thing is easily one of the toughest scenes I've had to watch on a film.
There is something numbing about the fact that, not only this really happened, but probably happened in 600+ villages in Belarus alone. What can one do about such a staggering fact? So much death, murder, and horror could lead anyone in the middle of it to think they were in hell. Ales Adamovich, the Belarusian writer in whose story the film is based, maintained an anti-war stance through all his life, and how could he not? I felt uncomfortable and troubled, just watching it from the comfort of my house. There's no way I can imagine how it felt to live this in real life.
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