‘You’re a hopeless optimist…’
I’ve never really cared for experimental cinema. A lot of David Lynch’s stuff is great, but some of it just feels like barely organised nonsense. Which is probably the point. When one imagines high brow European cinema with a surrealist, experimental edge, Come and See is the film they are imagining. Essentially a war film but also containing elements of black humour, avant-garde expressionism and a lot of stuff that is just downright bonkers, Elem Klimov’s film will test the patience of even the most committed cinephobe…
From what I can gather, Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko), a young Soviet boy, is plucked from his village and conscripted to fight in WWII. Once there, the boy encounters the horror and absurdity of war. A badly burnt man tells Flyora it is his fault that their village was raised to the ground and his family murdered. A cow is shot dead for reasons that are better left unexplored. A young girl is gang raped whilst a church full of local villagers are set alight and burned to death. All the while, the camera offers no real judgement on these events. It merely projects them. The brutalist cinematography, almost approaching cinéma-vérité levels of authenticity, juxtaposes sharply with the washed out colour scheme resulting in a film that is unrelentingly bleak and strange.
There is no denying that there are certain scenes within Come and See that are utterly haunting and captivating. Others that are grotesque and deeply upsetting. There are also too many scenes, particularly in the early part of the film, that simply meander. Klimov flits between a recognisable narrative and long sequences that feel more ethereal or even deliberately confusing. This makes for a disorientating viewing experience that only adds to the general sense of unease that permeates throughout.
Come and See is certainly a unique piece of cinema, and it contains at its heart an astonishing performance from Kravchenko in the lead role, but it’s also a difficult film to stomach. I’m glad I saw it, but I won’t be watching it again in a hurry.