Idi i smotri (1985)

User Rating:

8.1/10   

Director:

Elem Klimov

Writers:

Ales Adamovich (screenplay)
Ales Adamovich (stories)

Release Date:

17 October 1985 (Hungary)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

A boy is unwillingly thrust into the atrocities of war in WWII Byelorussia, fighting for a hopelessly...

Plot Keywords:

WWII | Atrocity | Byelorussia | German Soldier | Airplane

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Aleksei Kravchenko	...	Florya Gaishun (as A. Kravchenko)
Olga Mironova	...	Glasha (as O. Mironova)
Liubomiras Lauciavicius	...	Kosach (as L. Lautsyavichius)
Vladas Bagdonas		(as V. Bagdonas)
Jüri Lumiste
Viktor Lorents		(as V. Lorents)
Kazimir Rabetsky		(as K. Rabetsky)
Yevgeni Tilicheyev		(as Ye. Tilicheyev)
Aleksandr Berda		(as A. Berda)
G. Velts
V. Vasilyev
Igor Gnevashev		(as I. Gnevashev)
Vasili Domrachyov		(as V. Domrachyov)
G. Yelkin
Ye. Kryzhanovsky

Also Known As:

Иди и смотри (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Come and See (USA)
Go and See

Runtime:

142 min | Argentina:146 min | Germany:146 min | USA:140 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Belarusian | Russian | German

Color:

Black and White (archive footage) | Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | UK:15 | France:U | Germany:16 (DVD rating) | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

The director planned to have Aleksei Kravchenko hypnotized by a psychotherapist during the most dreadful and violent scenes so that they wouldn't affect his young mind. However Kravchenko turned out not to be susceptible to hypnosis and had to pretend all the way.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Several Germans can be see wielding MP or STG 44's which were not in service until summer 1944 (this film is set in 1943).

Movie Connections:

Featured in The 100 Greatest War Films (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Lacrimosa

Death, destruction and despair

There's not much one can say about this movie, besides "Be warned, it's going to hurt you - a lot". The story is simple: Byelorussia in 1943 and it's Hell on the Earth. The Nazis are fighting a no-quarter-given-or-asked war against huge Soviet partisan units, and the population is caught in between (historically the German security forces destroyed hundred of Byelorussian villages murdering most of the population in the effort to "clear" the rear of Third Panzer Army). Those who haven't been deported or killed by the Nazis are trying to join the partisans. One of them is Florya, a young boy - and in his quest to "join the fight" he get much more he had bargained for. It's a movie about an apocalyptic world (the title is taken from the Book of Revelation, a most of the movie looks like it has been filmed on another planet), but unfortunately it was all-real. The emotional centre of the movie is a lengthy sequence involving the destruction of a village, with all the sickening (but not exploitative) details shown with cold determination. There's no catharsis (this is not Schindler's List!), no hope, no redemption - even the eventual revenge against the village's destroyers become just a sad and murderous business. "Come And See" is a difficult, violent and surprisingly poetic movie, compared to which even classics like "Saving Private Ryan" (Spielberg payed a homage to this movie on SPR's beginning) or "The Thin Red Line" seems just artificial. This is the real thing!