OMM2024 - Night 22: Come and See (1985)

No #OctoberMovieMarathon would be complete without at least 1 movie that features Nazis. This is that movie.

Night 22

Come and See (1985)

9/10

Flyora is a teen in Byelorussia in 1943, he joins with the Soviet partisans against the occupying Nazi forces and witnesses the atrocities being committed.

 

This movie is... it's good. It's fantastic even! Our main star was 14 at the start of filming and it's an amazing performance. The movie is both realistic and surreal with some stomach turning scenes. It's... disturbing, in a way that I think a lot of films dealing with WWII aren't. There's no overexaggeration of what's happening, it's just shown to you. It's a bit obtuse though, and I'll put more details on why in the spoiler section.

 

This isn't your regular horror film, but it's so unsettling it fits the genre. However, you do have to sit up and pay attention, the surreal elements can very easily make you lose where you are the movie. It's not a fun movie, but it is good.

SPOILERS START BELOW THE POSTER!

SPOILERS START HERE!

I have to shout out the camera work with this movie. There are so many shots that feel so incredibly intentional with framing that I feel like if I researched a bit more, I could find that multiple moments might be recreations of actual photos taken during WWII.

There's other moments like this where maybe if I had a better idea of this history or the people making the movie I'd get more out of it. A good way to show that is the title itself "Come and See" which is a reference to Revelations in the Bible- when the Lamb says "Come and see!" to reveal Death riding the pale horse. This is not referenced in the movie, there's no Bible/religion mentioned at all, and if you don't know that reference the title just seems... random. Other things that happen in this movie seem like if I had a bunch of footnotes I'd understand better. That could be because it's a Soviet Union film and I'm not locked into that culture, but I think there's also things left purposefully vague or only for those "in the know".

The surrealism is also pretty subtle. At the beginning our main kid gets partially deafened and we get lots of shots where the audio is distant or fuzzy, which adds to our confusion and feeling of being unsettled. A cool effect to be sure, but a bit hard to understand as well.

Another cool thing that I didn't even realize was happening until the end was how our main character is aging. Kinda. He's still 100% a teen, there's no magic/supernatural things happening- but he goes from a smiling tow-headed kid to someone with wrinkles, grey hair, and a permanently shell-shocked face. It's honestly incredible that a child actor can pull it off. My favorite moment of the film is probably at the very end, where Flyora walks up to another boy, who is dressed exactly like he was at the start of the film- and there's a moment of recognition- that this boy hasn't yet seen the horrors that Flyora has. And likely is going to experience the same things, including the simple act of saying "Hello" to the other men in his group and being met with silence and stares. It's crazy how this kid almost feels like a grandfather by the end of the film, even when you see him next to another person who's the same age as he is.

Honestly, this movie probably should be rated higher- because it's so well done. It's a great anti-war film- as no part of the movie seems glamorized or fun at all. There's no fun characters, no tough-but-nice boss, no victory, there's not even a drive to survive (or at least for us to root for survival). I think what hurts it for me is the lack of overall story. We're dealing with a very dark time in history, and it feels incredibly personal. And because of that, it feels like a cop-out to complain about the lack of story. Because it feels like it's just showing you how wave after wave of terrible things happen in war, and there's no "reason" behind any of it. No one is targeting you specifically, it's just happening. (I could also be tying this into the book "City of Girls", which I just finished, which actually features that theme for one of the characters. "Things happen to/around you")

But for me at least, it would have made the scenes easier to follow if I felt attached to any character beyond just "civilian/child I don't want to die". It almost feels like we're watching Flyora stumble from one terrible scene to another just because we need someone to follow with the camera. And with the surreal aspects you do get a bit confused as to what's happening and how people are feeling, it's hard to watch. But... maybe that's the point? I was going to rate this as a 7 for my own personal enjoyment, but I have to give it another point for showing me a different atrocity of WWII I didn't know much about, and for how incredible the child actor was. If you want to watch this movie, expect an anti-war message and horrific scenes with 0 levity and no good resolution, just like actual war.