the worst movies ever

Tools    





Go read my full review or you ain't got no ground to stand on.
Go read a book on a subject before you write a review.



Here's my full unedited review...

Come and See (1985)
Idi i smotri (original title)
Director: Elem Klimov
Cast: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Russia

During WWII, A young boy finds an old rifle buried in the sand he joins the Soviet resistances. He is forced to endure many horrors at the hands of the Nazi forces.


Come and See...is a heavy handed Soviet propaganda film about as subtle as a bottle of Smirnoff served in a dirty glass.

I tried watching this movie years ago but couldn't get past the opening scene of an old man yelling at a boy digging in the sand. The boy sounds like a half-crazed, possessed demon. Talk about grating on the nerves.

But this time I did watch the entire film...and after the opening scene the movie actually got much better. The scenes from where the boy is at his families cabin...then joins the partisan fighters where he's put onto guard duty and then left behind in camp...when all of a sudden the woods around him begin to explode...was some of the best film making I've seen! My gaze was fixed on the screen and I scantly breathed, that's how engrossed in the film I was. At that point I really though Come and See would be at favorite.

Then the film tries to get artsy. We get elements randomly included that's suppose to make the un-skeptical convinced that this is high art. Sorry folks, but tying a stork to a tree in the middle of the woods or placing a cute lemur on the shoulder of a soldier is not art. Neither is the often repeated shot of the plane in the sky. This is where the film started to lose me with it's forced creativity and scenes that were slow as molasses.

But what sank this film is the final act, when German soldiers surround a small country village, rounding up the people into a wooden barn, then with as much joy and demonic pleasure as the film makers can show, burn the people alive. All the German soldiers are character parodies, looking like they're fresh out of a Monty Python skit. It's a ridiculously staged scene for what should be a somber event.

That scene is where the iron arm of the Soviet Union runs rickshaw over the story line. German soldiers are shown tutoring the Russian peasants. The solders jump around with clown like joy as the building burns with the people inside. Then just to make sure we know the German soldiers are the bad guys, they also machine gun the building and also through hand grenades into it...and like that wasn't enough, then they use a flame thrower on a building that is already engulfed in flames.

A few scenes latter and the triumph Russians partisans have some how managed to conquer and capture the Germans. The film makers then have a SS man give his hate spew on how all Russians and all inferior nations must be exterminated like vermin...

The German soldiers in the film are full of race hatred...and that's when it occurred to me, that the very thing this film seeks to show, is itself guilty of!

Not one of the German soldiers are shown to be human, not one of them is shown to be reluctant to follow orders to burn alive men women and children.

I've never seen a film that was more one sided and propagandist.




Here's my full unedited review...
Read it. Didn’t need to. You’re attempting to conflate German people with Nazis in some at best completely ill advised “we need both sides!” centrism and at worst, trying to obfuscate the reality of the atrocities the film depicts.



Read it. Didn’t need to. You’re attempting to conflate German people with Nazis in some at best completely ill advised “we need both sides!” centrism and at worst, trying to obfuscate the reality of the atrocities the film depicts.
Now everyone can see that you were flat out wrong when you said this:
Could’ve stopped there. Or before you even started. Go learn about Nazi atrocities before you start acting as an apologist for them.
Because here's my review and no where did I apologize for Nazi atrocities. I clearly said they were guilty of war crimes.

Come and See (1985)
Idi i smotri (original title)
Director: Elem Klimov
Cast: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius
Genre: Drama, War
Country: Russia

During WWII, A young boy finds an old rifle buried in the sand he joins the Soviet resistances. He is forced to endure many horrors at the hands of the Nazi forces.

Come and See...is a heavy handed Soviet propaganda film about as subtle as a bottle of Smirnoff served in a dirty glass.

I tried watching this movie years ago but couldn't get past the opening scene of an old man yelling at a boy digging in the sand. The boy sounds like a half-crazed, possessed demon. Talk about grating on the nerves.

But this time I did watch the entire film...and after the opening scene the movie actually got much better. The scenes from where the boy is at his families cabin...then joins the partisan fighters where he's put onto guard duty and then left behind in camp...when all of a sudden the woods around him begin to explode...was some of the best film making I've seen! My gaze was fixed on the screen and I scantly breathed, that's how engrossed in the film I was. At that point I really though Come and See would be at favorite.

Then the film tries to get artsy. We get elements randomly included that's suppose to make the un-skeptical convinced that this is high art. Sorry folks, but tying a stork to a tree in the middle of the woods or placing a cute lemur on the shoulder of a soldier is not art. Neither is the often repeated shot of the plane in the sky. This is where the film started to lose me with it's forced creativity and scenes that were slow as molasses.

But what sank this film is the final act, when German soldiers surround a small country village, rounding up the people into a wooden barn, then with as much joy and demonic pleasure as the film makers can show, burn the people alive. All the German soldiers are character parodies, looking like they're fresh out of a Monty Python skit. It's a ridiculously staged scene for what should be a somber event.

That scene is where the iron arm of the Soviet Union runs rickshaw over the story line. German soldiers are shown tutoring the Russian peasants. The solders jump around with clown like joy as the building burns with the people inside. Then just to make sure we know the German soldiers are the bad guys, they also machine gun the building and also through hand grenades into it...and like that wasn't enough, then they use a flame thrower on a building that is already engulfed in flames.

A few scenes latter and the triumph Russians partisans have some how managed to conquer and capture the Germans. The film makers then have a SS man give his hate spew on how all Russians and all inferior nations must be exterminated like vermin...

The German soldiers in the film are full of race hatred...and that's when it occurred to me, that the very thing this film seeks to show, is itself guilty of!

Not one of the German soldiers are shown to be human, not one of them is shown to be reluctant to follow orders to burn alive men women and children.


I've never seen a film that was more one sided and propagandist.

NOTE: that I said the scene with the killing of the Russian civilians was a somber event, I didn't say it didn't happen, hence you're making up sh**.


BTW German enlisted soldiers were mostly not Nazis. Towards the end of WWII the Nazi government forced young boys and old men to fight. Nazi's would've been the officers, especially high ranking officer in charge. Labeling all German soldiers as Nazis is inaccurate.



Now everyone can see that you were flat out wrong when you said this:
Because here's my review and no where did I apologize for Nazi atrocities. I clearly said they were guilty of war crimes.
NOTE: that I said the scene with the killing of the Russian civilians was a somber event, I didn't say it didn't happen, hence you're making up sh**.


BTW German soliders enlisted men, were mostly not Nazis. Towards the end of WWII the Nazi government forced young boys and old men to fight. Labeling all German soldiers as Nazis is inaccurate.
No, I said that you’re apologizing because your attempt to lambast the portrayal of NAZI death squad (look up the Einsatzgruppen) as “unbelievable.” These death squads were SS so you’re little “I know some history” tantrum doesn’t really apply.

You’re demanding a film, told from the perspective of a victim of wartime atrocities, “fairly” depict the perpetrators because YOU don’t believe they could be that inhuman.

You are factually, historically wrong and this degree of disbelief in what occurred (don’t think I didn’t notice how quickly you tried to shift the goal posts to Soviet atrocities) is part of what perpetuates misinformation about the actions of the Nazis during WW2.



No, I said that you’re apologizing because your attempt to lambast the portrayal of NAZI death squad (look up the Einsatzgruppen) as “unbelievable.” These death squads were SS so you’re little “I know some history” tantrum doesn’t really apply.

You’re demanding a film, told from the perspective of a victim of wartime atrocities, “fairly” depict the perpetrators because YOU don’t believe they could be that inhuman.

You are factually, historically wrong and this degree of disbelief in what occurred (don’t think I didn’t notice how quickly you tried to shift the goal posts to Soviet atrocities) is part of what perpetuates misinformation about the actions of the Nazis during WW2.
Get this into your head, I said the scene was unbelievable due to the acting, I didn't say it was unbelievable as an event. Those are worlds apart.



Get this into your head, I said the scene was unbelievable due to the acting, I didn't say it was unbelievable as an event. Those are worlds apart.
You called the movie racist for negatively depicting Nazi Death Squads.



You’re attempting to conflate German people with Nazis in some at best completely ill advised “we need both sides!” centrism and at worst, trying to obfuscate the reality of the atrocities the film depicts.
It would, perhaps, be better not to "mind read" about other posters are attempting to do? I think we're all agreed that the Nazis were really really bad. Moral criticism of the motives of fellow posters usually doesn't take us anywhere productive.



You’re demanding a film, told from the perspective of a victim of wartime atrocities, “fairly” depict the perpetrators because YOU don’t believe they could be that inhuman. .
I didn't say that, you're just making up sh** and getting upset. Sorry it won't work on me.

I know exactly what I said in my review and anyone can read it. Done arguing with you, I posted my review and I stand by it.



It would, perhaps, be better not to "mind read" about other posters are attempting to do? I think we're all agreed that the Nazis were really really bad. Moral criticism of the motives of fellow posters usually doesn't take us anywhere productive.
When fellow posters give a movie one star and call a film racist for negatively depicting Nazi Death Squads, it’s not mind reading.



The trick is not minding
Speaking of Tantrums…wonder why it’s so difficult for anyone to just have a civil Conversation without the need to resort to ad hominems.



It would, perhaps, be better not to "mind read" about other posters are attempting to do? I think we're all agreed that the Nazis were really really bad. Moral criticism of the motives of fellow posters usually doesn't take us anywhere productive.
Thanks Corax for explaining it better than I could.

I've reviewed a number of WWII films and never said the Nazi's were the victims as ThatDarnMKS is claiming. All of my reviews are logged into MoFos system and anyone can read them.



I didn't say that, you're just making up sh** and getting upset. Sorry it won't work on me.

I know exactly what I said in my review and anyone can read it. Done arguing with you, I posted my review and I stand by it.
I could quote your whole review back to you from this point, but I’m not sure you’ve read your review.
“All the German soldiers are character parodies, looking like they're fresh out of a Monty Python skit. It's a ridiculously staged scene*for what should be a somber event.”



When fellow posters give a movie one star and call a film racist for negatively depicting Nazi Death Squads, it’s not mind reading.
If that was said, I missed it. What I saw said that the film is propaganda, which it is - a lot of war movies are (America and Britain keep writing love letters to themselves with their WWII movies) and that German Soldiers (who were indisputably evil in their institutional role) are depicted unrealistically in their interpersonal/psychological roles. That doesn't seem to be beyond the pale, but maybe I missed something. I really don't think there was any such intention, for what that is worth.

At any rate, that's just my two cents.



I could quote your whole review back to you from this point, but I’m not sure you’ve read your review.

“All the German soldiers are character parodies, looking like they're fresh out of a Monty Python skit. It's a ridiculously staged scene*for what should be a somber event.”
Exactly correct, the scene is staged hammy with the German soldiers acting comical insane. It should have been directed more somber, the same events happen but the Nazi leader orders the burning of the Russian civilians and some of the enlisted German soldiers are hesitate to do so, but have no choice of course so they do. That would've been a deeply disturbing scene.

*Come and See is racist as it promotes hatred of Germans (not just Nazis) to the Russian people. Very few capture German soldiers came back alive from Russian concentration camps. We all know WWII American films showed race hatred towards Japanese, but at least those were made during the war, not decades latter.



If that was said, I missed it. What I saw said that the film is propaganda, which it is - a lot of war movies are (America and Britain keep writing love letters to themselves with their WWII movies) and that German Soldiers (who were indisputably evil in their institutional role) are depicted unrealistically in their interpersonal/psychological roles. That doesn't seem to be beyond the pale, but maybe I missed something. At any rate, I really don't think there was any such intention, for what that is worth.

At any rate, that's just my two cents.
“The German soldiers in the film are full of race hatred...and that's when it occurred to me, that the very thing this film seeks to show, is itself guilty of!”

I’d also adamantly disagree that the film is propagandist, unless having a film with any political idea is inherently propaganda through a most flippant use of the term. But I’ll stay focused on calling the film racist (or race hatred, as he awkwardly phrased it) for depicting Germans (Nazi mobile death squads responsible for nigh endless atrocities) negatively.*



Exactly correct, the scene is staged hammy with the German soldiers acting comical insane. It should have been directed more somber, the same events happen but the Nazi leader orders the burning of the Russian civilians and some of the enlisted German soldiers are hesitate to do so, but have no choice of course so they do. That would've been a deeply disturbing scene.

*Come and See is racist as it promotes hatred of Germans (not just Nazis) to the Russian people. Very few capture German soldiers came back alive from Russian concentration camps. We all know WWII American films showed race hatred towards Japanese, but at least those were made during the war, not decades latter.
Which shows the ignorance of what the Nazi Mobile Death squads were like in a desire to humanize (thus diminish) their actions and inhumanity.

Which brings us back to… Read about the subject before you purport to know how it should have been depicted.

Your conflation of Nazi SS mobile death squads with the German people (and Germans with being a race) only compound your ignorance on the subject.



I don't really agree with Citizen on this one, but I wonder if MKS would be as enraged if the film would have been about Soviet atrocities and a similar critique was given? And yeah, I also thought the portrayal of the Germans was over the top before I read a book about the Dirlewanger brigade. It should be noted, though, that there were reasons why the SS used the tactics they did, and also the fact that Dirlewanger's methods (such as the massacre in the film) were widely criticized within the Nazi war machine.

On the other hand, I guess it's somewhat fair to call a one-sided portrayal of war crimes propaganda.
__________________



Which shows the ignorance of what the Nazi Mobile Death squads were like in a desire to humanize (thus diminish) their actions and inhumanity.

Which brings us back to… Read about the subject before you purport to know how it should have been depicted.
You're a brick wall hence you're wasting my time, for the last time...I'm not criticizing the films actions that are shown (the burning of civilians), never doubted that stuff like that actually happened.

I'm criticizing the heavy handed way it was directed, mainly the silly acting which isn't respectful to the civilians killed. It's clear you can't understand my complaint is about cinema technique..and not about history.



You're a brick wall hence you're wasting my time, for the last time...I'm not criticizing the films actions that are shown (the burning of civilians), never doubted that stuff like that actually happened.

I'm criticizing the heavy handed way it was directed, mainly the silly acting which isn't respectful to the civilians killed. It's clear you can't understand my complaint is about cinema technique..and not about history.
Read firsthand accounts of survivors and see how they describe the Nazis behavior towards them. See how many times it aligns with how you say it should have been depicted.