Come and See
Come and See (Russian: Иди и смотри, romanized: Idi i smotri; Belarusian: Ідзі і глядзі, romanized: Idzi i hliadzi) is a 1985 Soviet anti-war film directed by Elem Klimov and starring Aleksei Kravchenko and Olga Mironova. Its screenplay, written by Klimov and Ales Adamovich, is based on the 1971 novel Khatyn and the 1977 memoir I Am from the Fiery Village (Я из огненной деревни, Ya iz ognennoy derevni), of which Adamovich was a co-author. Klimov had to fight eight years of censorship from the Soviet authorities before he could be allowed to produce the film in its entirety.
| Come and See | |
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Russian theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Elem Klimov |
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| Cinematography | Aleksei Rodionov |
| Edited by | Valeriya Belova |
| Music by | Oleg Yanchenko |
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| Distributed by | Sovexportfilm |
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Running time | 142 minutes |
| Country | Soviet Union |
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| Box office | $21 million |
The film's plot focuses on the Nazi German occupation of Belarus, and the events as witnessed by a young teenager named Flyora, who joins the Belarusian partisans, and thereafter depicts the Nazi atrocities and human suffering inflicted upon the Eastern European region's populace. The film mixes hyper-realism with an underlying surrealism, and philosophical existentialism with poetical, psychological, political and apocalyptic themes.
Come and See received generally positive critical reception upon release, and received the FIPRESCI prize at the 14th Moscow International Film Festival. It has since come to be considered one of the greatest films of all time; in the 2022 Sight & Sound directors' poll of the Greatest Films of all Time, it ranked 41st.