723. Come and See

Come and See
1985
Directed by Elem Klimov

Recently I watched The Killing Fields for this List and although it was heartbreaking, I felt it was necessary to see.  Similarly, this movie also depicts the horrors of war.  However, I really wish I hadn't watched this and I would advise people to avoid it.

During World War II, a  Belarusian boy named Flyora longs to join the Soviet forces.  He ends up getting his wish, but he soon realizes that there is nothing adventurous or glamorous about wartime atrocities.  He seems to bounce from horrific tragedy to horrific tragedy (which includes rape because it wouldn't be a 1001 movie without it) and we bounce along with him.

I feel really sorry for the child actor in this; the director should have paid for a lifetime of therapy sessions for him after filming this movie (in fact, he should probably pay for mine too).  This was just tragedy upon tragedy and I am not entirely convinced it was done to educate and inform.  I am not sure how many incidents in this movie happened in real life, but the violence ended up feeling very gratuitous.

An undeniably powerful film, but one I could have happily gone without seeing.

RATING: *----

Interesting Facts:

The original title was "Kill Hitler" but it was changed because it was deemed inappropriate.  I can't imagine people having a problem with it now.