During
the Glasnost era, Soviet director Elem Klimov personally supervised the release
of scores of previously banned films. Technically, he was a Communist Party
member, but he was always out of step with Party orthodoxy. His anti-war
masterwork was about as far as a film can get from Socialist Realism, but its
hyper-reality is arguably the best cinematic recreation of what it is like to
experience war first-hand. Viewers can witness the terrible sound and fury of
Klimov’s vision in all its brutal power when the freshly restored Come and
See opens today at Film Forum.
Much
to his mother’s alarm, her teenaged son Flyora has volunteered for the Soviet
partisans. This appears to be an official Red Army-affiliated company of
partisans, which probably makes matters worse. Of course, when they come to
collect her boy, they also plunder the family farm. Maybe it is just as well
Flyora does not impress the legendary commander Kosach, who holds him back from
combat. However, he orders the boy to surrender his sturdy boots to a salty old
comrade.
Unfortunately,
Flyora will find himself in the thick of war when the National Socialists
over-run the Soviet Socialists’ defenses. Soon, he is navigating a hellscape of
artillery bombardments and war crimes. The lad latches onto several companions
in order to survive, which he does, but that is often not true for those around
him.
Frankly,
it takes a bit of time to unlock because the naïve Flyora we meet in early
scenes seems so willfully blind to everything we can see around him. However,
his slow transformation is a harrowing spectacle to behold. First-time actor
Alexei Kravchenko (now an established veteran) appears to genuinely age thirty
years during the course of the film. From a callow child, he evolves into a
creature in and of war.
Come
and See is
also an overwhelming achievement on a technical level. Klimov and
cinematographer Alexei Rodionov employ long, complex Steadicam tracking shots
that are clearly a forerunner to Mendes’ 1917. Yet, it is the disorienting
maelstrom of sound effects that really instill the sensation of being in the
middle of a war zone.
There
have definitely been considerably more heroic depictions of the Red Army in
Soviet and Russian cinema. Take it from someone who has seen a lot of them. Nevertheless,
they cannot compare to the scale and uncompromisingly visceral recreation of
National Socialist war crimes committed in Belarus, which dominate the third
act of the film. In this respect, Come and See compares quite directly
with films like Schindler’s List, which it predates by almost eight
years.
This
is an overwhelming film that is best viewed on a big screen, despite square
Academy aspect ratio. The tracer bullets practically strafe the audience and
the rumbling and keening noises get under your skin. It is a masterwork, by any
standard. Very highly recommended, Come and See opens today (2/21) in
New York, at Film Forum.
