Come and see – Idi i smotri (1985)

Directed by: Elem Klimov | 142 minutes | drama, war | Actors: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius, Vladas Bagdonas, Jüri Lumiste, Viktor Lorents, Kazimir Rabetsky, Evgeniy Tilicheev, Aleksandr Berda, G. Velts, V. Vasilyev, Igor Gnevaielchyv, Vasily Domraiev, Vasily Domraiev N. Lisichenok, Viktor Manaev

The visually extremely powerful ‘Come and See’ (‘Come and See’ or ‘Idi i smotri’) is a little uplifting experience for the chamberlains we all are in the field of war experiences. ‘Come and see’ brings us into sensory contact from eye level with the hardships of Belarusians in WWII. Hunger, cold and undergrowth, a mother giving her son (Aleksey Kravchenko) an ax to put the family out of misery, SS men setting fire to a barn full of people, that’s work.

Not that ‘Come and see’ doesn’t have a strong dramatic premise: the teenage Florya (the boy with the ax), joins the resistance, to become a man and because he is a man. A young man who spontaneously bursts into tears after meeting a peer (Olga Mironova), crying that automatically turns into laughter because that is often the only option in life. After all, life force is something that cruelty can hardly break – although there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

Girls want to be seen, and men want to fight – even in wartime. They are impressionistic sketches, of a grim situation that does not need to be explained. Basic emotions that do not harbor cultural barriers. Roaring planes in the background as daily reality, the landing of bombs in the forest. Beeping ears. A stork that has lost its nest. A liberating rainstorm. Dancing on the volcano. A shot cow. madness.

Dramatic means are certainly there: the cawing of crows and an almost medieval coarse decor, but there is no exaggeration in ‘Come and see’ – an intensified documentary diorama. As if there were a monastic college for filming in Belarus during the Cold War, this is what this long player from 1985 looks like – restored for reintroduction. Craftsmanship could not be broken by the propagandist Soviets, Elem Klimov shows. War is horror, is the message.