Come and see

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Movie
German title Come and see
In the GDR: go and see
Original title Иди и смотри
Country of production Soviet Union
original language Russian
Belarusian
German
Publishing year 1985
length 146 minutes
Age rating FSK 16
Rod
Director Elem Germanowitsch Klimow
script Ales Adamowitsch
Elem Germanowitsch Klimow
production Mosfilm and Belarusfilm
music Oleg Jantschenko
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart : Requiem (KV 626) a. a.
camera Alexei Rodionov
cut Valeria Belowa
occupation

Come and see ( Russian Иди́ и смотри́ / Idi i smotri ), in the GDR according to the original title Geh und see , is a Soviet anti-war film by the director Elem Klimow , based on literary models by Ales Adamowitsch , with the then 16-year-old Alexei Kravchenko in the Main role. The film was produced by Mosfilm and Belarusfilm .

According to the promotional material, the title of the film is derived from chapter 6 of the Revelation of John . The exclamation “come and see” (in verses 1, 3, 5 and 7) is the invitation to contemplate the devastation wrought by the four horsemen of the apocalypse .

action

The plot of the film takes place in 1943, the third year of the German occupation of Belarus during the Second World War . The main character of the film, the boy Fljora, joins the partisans against his mother's wishes . Life in the forest and the fight against the Wehrmacht seem like a great adventure for Fljora at the beginning . However, in the course of the film, the boy experiences martyrdom .

In the meantime, Fljora returns to his village, which seems deserted. Some villagers were shot dead by the SS , SD and police in retaliation . Fljora's mother and sisters were also murdered. After an unsuccessful attempt to organize something to eat for the survivors, Fljora ends up in another village, which is the target of retaliation for partisan attacks. He witnessed how the inhabitants of this village were locked in a barn and burned alive (at the end of the film it is pointed out that 628 villages in Belarus were dealt with in a similar way during the entire time of the German occupation).

Fate turns and the partisans and Fljora get their hands on the perpetrators. They then retaliate for the massacre committed . At the end of the film, Fljora is a different person, his face aged by years.

Historical background

The literary novel Хатынская аповесць (first published in 1971, German The Story of Chatyn ) and the screenplay by Ales Adamowitsch refer, without wanting to document, to the mass murder of the SS special unit Dirlewanger on March 22, 1943 of the residents of the village of Chatyn . The film review states: “ We don't learn anything about specific locations, fronts or events. Even if he designs the SS commandant after a historical Nazi, namely SS-Oberführer Oskar Dirlewanger , and the soldiers are actually portrayed by Germans, that ultimately doesn't matter for the film. "

reception

Come and see has been seen 28.9 million times in Soviet cinemas. The film was shown at several film festivals and was released on May 9, 1986 under the title Go and See in the cinemas of the GDR and on May 7, 1987 in that of the Federal Republic.

Critics received the film almost exclusively positively, and the play of the young leading actor Alexei Kravchenko was also praised. The film was named "Film of the Month" by the Protestant Film Work jury in September 1987.

Rita Kempley wrote in the Washington Post : “ 'Come and see' sounds like an invitation to child's play. Nothing could be further from the truth. “( " Come and See "sounds like an invitation to a child's game. Nothing could be further from the truth. ). Here a “ hallucinatory underworld of blood and mud and escalating madness ” can be seen ( hallucinatory nether world of blood and mud and escalating madness ).

"'Come and see' is a war film of tremendous brutality, but at its peak the horror turns into terrible thoughtfulness."

- Andreas Kilb (Die Zeit)

Ian Nathan wrote in the film magazine Empire that Come and See is rightly considered " one of the most powerful and disturbing war films ever made " ( Properly considered one of the most powerful and disturbing war movies ever made ), and goes on to speak of a " vision of hell on earth "( vision of hell on earth ).

“This film has been called surreal and impressionistic , but that's the wrong conclusion. 'Go and see' is reality and truth. "

- The Spinning Image

Trivia

The director of the film, Elem Klimow, ended his career as a filmmaker after shooting the film on the grounds that with Come and See he had achieved everything he had ever strived for in cinematic terms.

Awards

The film took part in the competition at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1985 and won the main prize together with Christos Siopahas Kathodos ton 9, I and Norman Jewison's Sergeant Waters - A Soldier's Story . Come and See was also awarded the festival's FIPRESCI Prize.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Film review
  2. ↑ german.imdb.com
  3. ^ Film of the month September 1987: Come and see. In: filmdesmonats.de. Jury of Evangelical Film Work, 1987, accessed on August 5, 2013 .
  4. ↑ washingtonpost.com
  5. ↑ Andreas Kilb : The beauty of horror . In: Die Zeit , No. 19/1987, p. 48
  6. ↑ Ian Nathan: Come And See (15). In: Empire (magazine) . Retrieved July 20, 2008 .
  7. ↑ Ted Forsyth: Come and See. In: The Spinning Image. Retrieved on July 21, 2008 : “This film has been called surreal and impressionistic, but this is the wrong conclusion. Come and see is reality and truth. "
  8. ↑ Elem Klimov: Russian film director famed for his devastating portrayal of war but frustrated by the Soviet system