Come and See (1985)

After finding an old rifle, a young boy joins the Soviet resistance movement against ruthless German forces and experiences the horrors of World War II. Idi i smotri is another example of an overrated film being on the Top 250 and it doesn't really belong here cause it's just another boring movie with nothing new to give or say and just because it's not american we need to congratulate it or whatever and i mean the movie wasn't all that good to begin with it was boring, dumb and just way too bland to fully really enjoy it as a whole. (0/10)

This movie has had to restrain itself from showing the true level of German atrocities in Belarus and Russia, in order not to be distracting. But what is shown is enough, and the movie is beautifully done. The director did not make any more movies because he said everything he wanted to say.This is war movie like no other. If you want to understand what happened, this is a must see. There are so many movies about Holocaust, but the level of suffering on the Eastern front is unfortunately for political reasons severely underplayed in the West. 20 million Russian and Soviet civilians died from the Nazi hand. The decency with which this movie tells the truth about the war is really worthy of greatest respect. There is not a second that is fake in this movie, it is pure, distilled soul of the Soviet people and their struggle against Hitler. If you want substance, look no further. There has been no other movie like this.

"Come and See" was on a list of the 10 most disturbing films you will ever see. It deserves to be.Not that it is full of gratuitous gore; much of the horror is just glimpsed; dolls discarded on the floor of a deserted house; a pile of bodies briefly seen at a distance. Much of the horror simply plays out on the face of Florya (Aleksei Kravchenko), the teenage boy at the centre of the story.I was stunned by the film, and there is not much to add to the many thoughtful IMDb reviews here; only a few comments on the technique of this film that makes it so compelling.Critic Tim Lott wrote in 2009 that the film "makes Apocalypse Now look lightweight". It's an interesting association, because other critics pointed out similarities in the structure of the two films. Both are journeys where the central character experiences events that escalate until the true horror overwhelms them. Captain Willard's journey into the 'heart of darkness' is not that different to Florya's; both see things along the way that violate their senses.A great deal of "Come and See" has a lyrical quality, especially Florya's brief stay in the forest with Glasha (Olga Mironova) - it's troubling that the girl who is taken by the Nazis at the end looks so much like her. However, all the while, there is that ominous, shapeless hum on the soundtrack. You sense everything is not well and soon you will see things you cannot unsee. So much is told through those close up faces. But it is the face of Florya, aging before our eyes, which reaches into the soul.Although the film was made a few years before the end of the Soviet regime, one can't detect too much of a political agenda in the way the story plays out - the events it portrays are well documented and disturbingly true. Maybe the retribution handed out to the captured Nazis at the end symbolises what happened in the war - what was done going East was repaid as the war headed West.This masterful film doesn't really fit the definition of a standard war film; it is more of a cautionary tale. To paraphrase George Orwell a little, when people start to feel 'more equal than others', it opens the way for evil to happen.

If you think A monkey throwing paint at a blank canvas is art of the highest order, you will adore this movie. If however, you have higher standards (assuming you have objective standards) you will be absolutely frustrated with this movie which drags on and on and on. In an unintentional way, this film is very fitting of the Soviet, 1984ish genre. It feels like it was made by a Soviet Politburo's child shooting his first movie. Where everyone knows it stinks, but must nonetheless stand up and cheer for its greatness for fear of being sent to the gulag. This movie is a complete waste of time.