There is just a different kind of intensity on display that does not feel rehearsed and timed to perfection; it is entirely spontaneous and so sincere that the human suffering becomes genuinely terrifying. Predictably, it can be very intense, but not because there is a great deal of cinematic drama in the progression of the action. Not so in Elem Klimov’s 1985 film Come and See, in which relentless bombings and frenetic camerawork shatter the Belarusian countryside into an incoherent, fabulistic geography, and the invading Germans appear to coalesce out of the fog on the horizon like menacing apparitions.

Without betraying the real—by, in fact, remaining more faithful to it than most fictional remembrances of WWI have been— Come and See suggests that the war’s horrors were the ultimate unassimilable experience of the shadowy depths of the human mind. The events in the film are seen primarily through the eyes of a fatherless boy named Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko) who is slowly pushed on the verge of a complete mental breakdown.Klimov refuses to sanitize or sentimentalize the conflict that in his native language is known as the Great Patriotic War. In case you are wondering, it is the need for raw human emotions, which digital technology can deliver on demand). As wide-eyed witness to a portion of this monstrous deed, Flyora’s face often fills the film’s narrow 4:3 frame—scorched, bloodied, and sooty, trembling with horror at the inhumanity he’s seen. The closeups of the actor's faces are where the spotlight is though, showcasing every tiny detail in these terrified faces. Criterion has put together a fantastic special edition for the film, loading on several supplements around the film’s production and its subject matter, while also giving the film a superb audio/video presentation.

There's nothing else like it and will stick around for days after viewing with some excellent cinematography and poetic beauty within all the violence. The only other release of Come and See that I have in my library is this two-disc DVD set from Nouveaux Pictures, which for a long period of time offered the best technical presentation of the film. This 2001 interview has Director Klimov discussing making Come and See, the difficulties and detail that went into it, as well as his own experiences during WWII. Elem Klimov’s unbelievable vision of the agonizing hell of war is preserved in all its nightmarish beauty on this Criterion Collection release. Sourced from a 2K digital restoration by Mosfilm, this transfer makes Come and See’s stark color palette pop with a sharpness of detail that only compounds the film’s bleak atmosphere.This new digital transfer was created in 2K resolution from the 35mm original camera negative at Mosfilm. Dialogue may be the only weak element: in comparison to the everything else it comes off incredibly flat and does stick out compared to every other aspect of the track. Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). I did a few comparisons with the old DVD release I have in my library and to be honest was quite surprised by the massive upgrade.

Awarded the Grand Prix at the 1985 Moscow Film Festival, Come and See is notable as an honest and unflinching portrait of one of the darker chapters among many in the history of the World War II.The 1080p/24hz high-definition encode is sourced from a new 2K restoration performed by Mosfilm and scanned from the 35mm original negative. He thinks that it is his duty because with the exception of the village idiot and a few dedushkas who are too old and sick to fight the invaders all other men have already done so. REGION 0 or REGION ALL -- Discs are uncoded and can be played Worldwide, however, PAL discs must be played in a PAL-compatible unit and NTSC discs must be played in an NTSC-compatible unit.

Glascha (Olga Mironova), a lovely young girl, befriends him, but the two are caught in the midst of an air raid which leaves Florya nearly deaf. For example, there are prolonged close-ups with peripheral movement which leaves the impression that one is looking at a portrait that is slowly coming alive. Florya and Glasha eventually separate, Flyora joining the surviving men to scour the countryside for food, only to find himself the survivor of a series of atrocities perpetrated by the Germans.dont think its as disturbing as others Ive watched (martyrs disturbed me more), but its a really good movie. Eager to participate alongside the unit of considerably more weathered men, Flyora feels emasculated when he’s forced to remain behind in the partisans’ forest encampment with Glasha (Olga Mironova), a local girl implicitly attached to the militia unit because she’s sleeping with its commander, Kosach (Liubomiras Laucevicius). Another 2001 interview with the actor that played Flyora where he discusses how he got cast in the film, life on set, and working with the director and other actors.