Saturday 6 November 2010

Idi I Smotri (Come and See) 1985

Critically acclaimed upon its release, and clocking over 25 million admissions in the Soviet Union alone, is Come and See, the tale of a child soldier, Florya, and his fight for survival in Nazi occupied Belarus. Despite its formidable success at the box office, Come and See is a film which has managed to glide under the radar into relative obscurity. It has, however gained a strong cult following, and for good reasons. Finding that his village and home has been raided, and all its inhabitants, including his family murdered, the young Florya finds himself alone in a desperate struggle for survival. As we follow Florya through war-stricken Belarus we bear witness, on the one hand, to the systematic genocidal activities of the Nazi troops, and on the other, to the misery of displaced communities of starving, homeless, Belarusian civilians. A distressing mask of anguish begins to replace Florya’s once pure and youthful visage. His innocence is stripped from him, revealing to the child a grim and premature knowledge of the horrors of war. Whilst with each successive scene of misery and terror, we share in this knowledge, and our senses are assaulted. Any fleeting glimpses of hope given to the viewer are quickly stolen away from us, presenting a view of war which is unflinching, shocking, traumatic. Horrific as it may be though, the film exudes an eerie and indefinable beauty. Klimov creates an emotional landscape which leaves the viewer so wrought with tension and sorrow that its climax becomes dizzying and euphoric in its intensity. Filmed using live ammunition, and portraying Nazi war crimes with graphic brutality, this film is not for the faint hearted, but those daring enough to sit through it will certainly reap the rewards, being presented with a depiction of war “as Hollywood could never portray it”.

http://www.nouse.co.uk/2010/10/27/come-and-see-1985/

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