Eavesdropping At The Movies

We explore Come and See, a 1985 Soviet film whose reputation precedes it - it's regarded as one of the greatest war films of all time. In 1943 Belarus, a young teenager, Flyora, joins the resistance, but as he travels from village to village across Nazi-occupied Belarus, experiencing worsening horrors and atrocities brought upon the locals, the extent to which he is out of his depth gradually becomes clearer and clearer. Part of Come and See's reputation is of being hard to watch, something we both take issue with - it goes to some deeply unpleasant places, but it's a gradual descent rather than an onslaught. That the film is regarded as such a trial has likely caused some filmgoers to unnecessarily avoid an experience that they would value. While it depicts shocking imagery and events, it's shot with an ethical eye - everything that's shown has a purpose, and that which would be excessively prurient is often avoided. We also consider the use of supernatural and fairytale aesthetics to place us in the mind