Come and See (1985) -

[Gus]

Personally, I'd have to say that Apocalypse Now is my favorite war film. I gladly show it to friends and sit through it again and again.

Come and See, or Иди и смотри, is the best war film I have ever seen, and I never want to see it again. There is no other film I know - and I've known many - that does a better work of conveying the essence of what a war is.

This film upsets me more than any other, but for all the right reasons. It is a film of vile horror, and pulls that off with a wonderful sense of art that rings in your ear long after it's ended. I recommend.

Spoiler: Come and see...

 

[Judge Holden]

Yeah, this film is awesome but a fucking ordeal to sit through. The visuals and sound design actively assault your senses and thats before you get to the godawful shit thats actually on screen

 

[A Useless Fish]

I bought this as a Christmas present for a friend, which admittedly was a step up from the copy of Mein Kampf I got him the previous year.

But yes, this is magnificent and harrowing all at once.

 

[Monika H.]

Oh god, this movie.
I loved it, it's one of the few that covers the atrocities of the Dirlewanger Brigade.
At times it feels like an acid trip so much is surreal.

 

[Chaos Theorist]

Is this Soviet propaganda?

edit: this was a shitpost and not to be taken seriously

 

[Gus]

Oh god, this movie.
I loved it, it's one of the few that covers the atrocities of the Dirlewanger Brigade.
At times it feels like an acid trip so much is surreal.

You know, that's funny you mention. I watched it twice in the same day while on 360 micrograms (three 120 mic blotter tabs) of LSD-25. Once when I was peaking, and again when coming down. Had a hell of an effect on me, I'll tell you.

 

[Monika H.]

Is this Soviet propaganda?

No, although it was made in the Soviet era, this movie got worldwide appraisal for his powerful material and historical accuracy.

 

[millais]

I enjoyed this movie. I have watched it twice. I like the part where the partisans catch up to the SS column, aka lobster dinner interruption

Is this Soviet propaganda?

The Soviet censors did not play a heavy hand in the production of this film. In fact in the context of the setting (Belarus 1944), it does very little to whitewash the less savory elements of the Soviet war experience. The Soviet partisans summarily execute prisoners, Soviet collaborators with the German forces are not entirely portrayed as one-dimensional villains, and very famously the ending sequence provocatively suggests that even the most vengeful Soviet citizen could not bring himself to murder Hitler under a very particular set of circumstances.

I wouldn't say the film is especially historically accurate and realistic, but it IS very authentic in capturing the spirit and experience of the partisan war in the occupied Soviet territories. It's dialed all the way up to 11 to have the greatest impact on the viewer, and in the context of an anti-war film, that is a very effective choice in design. A perfectly realistic war film covering the same area and period would probably be closer to a 6 or 7 in intensity.