The historical war film, known for its intense scenes, is widely praised and considered a must-see.
One person on social media commented: “It is horrifying, accurate, [and] devastating in every sense.”
Another said: “This isn’t a fun and enjoyable film but it’s a necessary one.”
“One of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen,” a third added. “This is going to stick with me for a long time, truly a testament to the devastating power of cinema.”
The Soviet anti-war film is based on the 1971 novel Khatyn by Ales Adamovich and the 1977 collection of survivor stories I Am from the Fiery Village.
Directed by Soviet-Russian filmmaker Elem Klimov, who drew from his own childhood experiences during the war, the movie follows the Nazi occupation of Belarus through the eyes of a teenager named Flyora (played by Aleksei Kravchenko).
The film was shot in order, showing Flyora’s transformation from a carefree boy to someone deeply affected by the horrors he witnessed.
One particularly distressing 25-minute scene, called “one of the most sickening depictions of wartime” by Collider, shows Flyora being captured by Nazis and forced to watch, at gunpoint, as an entire village is burned alive in a church.
Kravchenko, who didn’t act for a decade after this film, said he was treated like “a grown-up person” on set and expected “to work hard.”
Come and See holds an impressive 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and ranked 41st in the Sight & Sound Directors’ poll of the Greatest Films of All Time.
Robert Daniels from The Playlist praised the film, saying: “By telling the story from a child’s perspective, Klimov gives the horrors of war a new kind of immediacy. Not from men turned hollow, but from a pure spirit robbed of innocence.”
Matt Brunson from Film Frenzy called it “one of the most devastating depictions of conflict ever placed on screen,” while Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress described it as “perhaps the most terrifying, nightmarish film ever made about war.”
On Letterboxd, users have rated it the “highest narrative feature film of all time.”
Kravchenko revealed he was hypnotized to help him cope with filming the disturbing scenes, but, according to IMDb, he wasn’t susceptible to hypnosis and had to act as if he was.
Klimov also told Kravchenko to lose weight for the role because he looked too healthy. In a YouTube interview, Kravchenko shared that he went on a strict diet, only drinking water for two days at a time and running for hours daily.
To make the film more realistic, live bullets were used in some gunfire scenes, with real rounds flying near the actors. Many characters were played by regular people rather than professional actors to add to the sense of terror.
Klimov described Come and See as “a passionate warning against war.”
The film also uses archive footage from Nazi Germany, showing that even though it’s terrifying, it doesn’t compare to what real people went through.
You can watch the trailer for Come and See below…
