Phew… What a film! Not for the faint-hearted. To say I really enjoyed this film doesn’t feel quite right. The story it depicts is, for the most part, appallingly awful.
And yet I did enjoy Come And See, as well as finding it a whole range of things: sometimes beautiful (the Belorussian landscapes are often almost magically so), sometimes funny, sometimes disturbing, traumatic even. There are moments of innocence, and even romance. Sometimes it veers towards the surreal. But the main theme is, as most who have heard of this film will doubtless know, the barbarism of war.
The story of the central character, Florya, played by Aleksei Kravchenko, demands a stupendous performance. He’s a funny looking kid, and does quite a lot of gurning. But with more than adequate reason. Sometimes. although admittedly not always, I like a film that really hits me hard, and really stays with. Come And See did both. It’s definitely got a very bloody axe to grind. But it never feels heavy-handed.
All things considered, and despite the surreal moments, it felt very real. Horribly and unflinchingly real. I’m someone who – it’s hard to know how to put it – kind of loves war, inasmuch as I agree with Thomas Hardy that it makes for ‘rattling good’ reading/watching, whilst peace-time history could be considered, perhaps, as rather dull in comparison. This film, however, serves as a tonic reminder of how ugly, twisted and senseless human conflict can actually be.
The main narrative arc of the film, telling the Florya’s story, is fantastic in itself. But the way it ends adds an incredibly powerful coda, which I won’t give away here. My response to it all is as much visceral and emotional as considered or thoughtful; I just think it’s absolutely brilliant. Both very beautiful and very ugly. And entirely superb.
A longer and more heavily illustrated review can be read on my mini-military hobby blog, here: https://aquestionofscale.blogspot.com/search?q=come+and+see