About This Film
In 1943, two Belarusian boys dig in a sand-filled trench looking for abandoned rifles in order to join the Soviet partisan forces. Their village elder warns them not to dig up the weapons as it would arouse the suspicions of the occupying Germans. One of the boys, Flyora, finds an SVT-40 rifle, though both of them are seen by an Fw 189 flying overhead.
A Focke-Wulf Fw 189. A single reconnaissance aircraft of this model repeatedly appears in scenes flying above Flyora's head throughout Come and See.
The next day two partisans arrive at Flyora's house, to conscript him. Flyora becomes a low-rank militiaman and is ordered to perform menial tasks. When the partisans are ready to move on, the partisan commander, Kosach, says that Flyora is to remain behind at the camp. Bitterly disappointed, Flyora walks into the forest weeping and meets Glasha, a young girl working as a nurse in the camp, and the two bond before the camp is suddenly attacked by German paratroopers and dive bombers.
Flyora is partially deafened from the explosions before the two hide in the forest to avoid the German soldiers. Flyora and Glasha travel to his village, only to find his home deserted and covered in flies. Denying that his family is dead, Flyora believes that they are hiding on a nearby island across a bog. As they run from the village in the direction of the bogland, Glasha glances across her shoulder, seeing a pile of executed villagers' bodies stacked behind a house, but does not alert Flyora.
The two become hysterical after wading through the bog, where Glasha then screams at Flyora that his family is actually dead in the village. They are soon met by Rubezh, a partisan fighter, who takes them to a large group of villagers who have fled the Germans. Flyora sees the village elder, badly burnt by the Germans, who tells him that he witnessed his family's execution and that he should not have dug up the rifles. Flyora, hearing this, then attempts suicide out of guilt, but Glasha and the villagers save and comfort him.
Rubezh takes Flyora and two other men to find food at a nearby warehouse, only to find it being guarded by German troops. During their retreat, the group unknowingly wanders through a minefield resulting in the deaths of the two companions. That evening Rubezh and Flyora sneak up to an occupied village and manage to steal a cow from a collaborating farmer. As they escape across an open field, Rubezh and the cow are shot and killed by a German machine gun. The next morning, Flyora attempts to steal a horse and cart but the owner catches him and instead of doing him harm, he helps hide Flyora's identity when SS troops approach.
Flyora is taken to the village of Perekhody, where they hurriedly discuss a fake identity for him, while the SS unit (based on the Dirlewanger Brigade) accompanied by Ukrainian collaborators surround and occupy the village. Flyora tries to warn the townsfolk as they are being herded to their deaths, but is forced to join them inside a wooden church. Flyora and a young woman manage to escape, but the latter is dragged by her hair across the ground and into a truck to be gang raped. Flyora is forced to watch as several Molotov cocktails and grenades are thrown onto and within the church before it is further set ablaze with a flamethrower as other soldiers shoot into the building. A German officer points a gun to Flyora's head to pose for a picture before leaving him to slump to the ground as the soldiers leave.
Flyora later wanders out of the scorched village in the direction of the Germans, where he discovers they had been ambushed by the partisans. After recovering his jacket and rifle, Flyora comes across Glasha in a fugue state and covered in blood after having been gang-raped and brutalized. Flyora returns to the village and finds that his fellow partisans have captured eleven of the Germans and their collaborators, including the commander, an SS-Sturmbannführer. While some of the captured men including the commander and main collaborator plead for their lives and deflect blame, a young fanatical officer, an Obersturmführer, is unapologetic and vows they will carry out their genocidal mission.
Kosach makes the collaborator douse the Germans with a can of petrol brought there by Flyora, but the disgusted crowd shoots them all before they can be set on fire. As the partisans leave, Flyora notices a framed portrait of Adolf Hitler in a puddle and proceeds to shoot it numerous times. As he does so, a montage of clips from Hitler's life play in reverse, but when Hitler is shown as a baby on his mother's lap, Flyora stops shooting and cries. A title card informs: "628 Belorussian villages were destroyed, along with all their inhabitants" (alternate translation: "628 Belarusian villages were burnt to the ground with all their inhabitants"). Flyora rushes to rejoin his comrades, and they march through the birch woods as snow blankets the ground.
A Focke-Wulf Fw 189. A single reconnaissance aircraft of this model repeatedly appears in scenes flying above Flyora's head throughout Come and See.
The next day two partisans arrive at Flyora's house, to conscript him. Flyora becomes a low-rank militiaman and is ordered to perform menial tasks. When the partisans are ready to move on, the partisan commander, Kosach, says that Flyora is to remain behind at the camp. Bitterly disappointed, Flyora walks into the forest weeping and meets Glasha, a young girl working as a nurse in the camp, and the two bond before the camp is suddenly attacked by German paratroopers and dive bombers.
Flyora is partially deafened from the explosions before the two hide in the forest to avoid the German soldiers. Flyora and Glasha travel to his village, only to find his home deserted and covered in flies. Denying that his family is dead, Flyora believes that they are hiding on a nearby island across a bog. As they run from the village in the direction of the bogland, Glasha glances across her shoulder, seeing a pile of executed villagers' bodies stacked behind a house, but does not alert Flyora.
The two become hysterical after wading through the bog, where Glasha then screams at Flyora that his family is actually dead in the village. They are soon met by Rubezh, a partisan fighter, who takes them to a large group of villagers who have fled the Germans. Flyora sees the village elder, badly burnt by the Germans, who tells him that he witnessed his family's execution and that he should not have dug up the rifles. Flyora, hearing this, then attempts suicide out of guilt, but Glasha and the villagers save and comfort him.
Rubezh takes Flyora and two other men to find food at a nearby warehouse, only to find it being guarded by German troops. During their retreat, the group unknowingly wanders through a minefield resulting in the deaths of the two companions. That evening Rubezh and Flyora sneak up to an occupied village and manage to steal a cow from a collaborating farmer. As they escape across an open field, Rubezh and the cow are shot and killed by a German machine gun. The next morning, Flyora attempts to steal a horse and cart but the owner catches him and instead of doing him harm, he helps hide Flyora's identity when SS troops approach.
Flyora is taken to the village of Perekhody, where they hurriedly discuss a fake identity for him, while the SS unit (based on the Dirlewanger Brigade) accompanied by Ukrainian collaborators surround and occupy the village. Flyora tries to warn the townsfolk as they are being herded to their deaths, but is forced to join them inside a wooden church. Flyora and a young woman manage to escape, but the latter is dragged by her hair across the ground and into a truck to be gang raped. Flyora is forced to watch as several Molotov cocktails and grenades are thrown onto and within the church before it is further set ablaze with a flamethrower as other soldiers shoot into the building. A German officer points a gun to Flyora's head to pose for a picture before leaving him to slump to the ground as the soldiers leave.
Flyora later wanders out of the scorched village in the direction of the Germans, where he discovers they had been ambushed by the partisans. After recovering his jacket and rifle, Flyora comes across Glasha in a fugue state and covered in blood after having been gang-raped and brutalized. Flyora returns to the village and finds that his fellow partisans have captured eleven of the Germans and their collaborators, including the commander, an SS-Sturmbannführer. While some of the captured men including the commander and main collaborator plead for their lives and deflect blame, a young fanatical officer, an Obersturmführer, is unapologetic and vows they will carry out their genocidal mission.
Kosach makes the collaborator douse the Germans with a can of petrol brought there by Flyora, but the disgusted crowd shoots them all before they can be set on fire. As the partisans leave, Flyora notices a framed portrait of Adolf Hitler in a puddle and proceeds to shoot it numerous times. As he does so, a montage of clips from Hitler's life play in reverse, but when Hitler is shown as a baby on his mother's lap, Flyora stops shooting and cries. A title card informs: "628 Belorussian villages were destroyed, along with all their inhabitants" (alternate translation: "628 Belarusian villages were burnt to the ground with all their inhabitants"). Flyora rushes to rejoin his comrades, and they march through the birch woods as snow blankets the ground.
Film Details
Director
Elem Klimov
Writers
Ales Adamovich, Elem Klimov
Keywords
Murder
Violence
Death
Revenge
Rape
Explosion
Corpse
Husband Wife Relationship
Shot To Death
Fight
Kiss
Gun
Chase
Dead Body
Fear
Young
Brutality
Insanity
Boyfriend Girlfriend Relationship
Fire
Cruelty
Motorcycle
Photograph
Dog
Shooting
Teenage Girl
Machine Gun
Forest
Dancing
Family Relationships
Rampage
Woods
Male Full Frontal Nudity
Brother Sister Relationship
Axe
Rifle
Massacre
Boy
Mother Son Relationship
Girl
Crying
Surrealism
Slaughter
Photographer
Gunshot
Mother Daughter Relationship
Old Woman
Horse
Trauma
Survival
Subjective Camera
Grave
Airplane
Teenage Boy
Burned Alive
Camera
Mercilessness
Damsel In Distress
Photography
Soldier
20th Century
Gang Rape
Rain
Village
F Word
Mass Murder
Racism
Murder Of A Child
Truck
Farm
Bomb
Nazi
Skull
Execution
Actual Animal Killed
Barn
Destruction
Tragedy
Pursuit
Dancer
Military
1940s
Survivor
Carnage
Death Of Mother
World War Two
Male Protagonist
Gunfire
Travel
Arson
Archive Footage
Farmer
Gasoline
Food
Reverse Footage
Pig
Scene Before Opening Credits
Animal Cruelty
Fascism
Tank
Grave Robbing
Burial
Posing For A Photograph
Nazi Uniform
Mercedes Benz
Dead Animal
Nazi Soldier
Nazi Officer
Warning
Man Killed
Eating
Digging
Grief
Tears
Bird
Siege
Cow
Gun Held To Head
Reprisal
Journey
Murder Of A Family
Atrocity
Burned Body
Mud
Commander
Woman Shot
Hunger
Owl
Dying
Based On Book
Ss
Loss Of Innocence
Gun Violence
Flare
Severed Foot
Burn Victim
Boots
Dying Young
Period Drama
Death Of Family
Hiking
Chick
Firearm
War Violence
Ss Officer
Parachute
Reference To Adolf Hitler
Left For Dead
Twin Sisters
Covered In Mud
Scarecrow
Foot Injury
Crutches
Crime Victim
Looking At The Camera
Automatic Weapon
Military Uniform
Twin
Imperative In Title
Misery
Loss Of Family
Man In Uniform
Woman Killed
Tragedy Drama
Anti War
Grandmother
Genocide
War Crime
Partisan
Murdered With A Gun
German Army
German Soldier
Timer
Effigy
Loudspeaker
Automatic Gunfire
Anguish
German Abroad
Wehrmacht
Haircut
Communist
Newsreel Footage
Concentration Camp
Nazi Occupation
Year 1943
Fascist
Resistance Fighter
Pillaging
Premature Aging
Soviet Military
Anti Semitism
Translator
Captured Woman
Wine Bottle
Rainbow
Holding A Gun To Someone's Head
Landmine
Damsel
Epic War
Bombing
Soviet Union
Holocaust
Communism
Atrocities
Drunk Soldier
Foot Blown Off
Great Patriotic War
Nazi Atrocities
Historical Event
Pet
Setting A Building On Fire
Mortar
Incineration
Pot
Pile Of Dead Bodies
Bog
Mass Grave
Invading Army
Throwing Gasoline On Someone
Blowing A Whistle
Minefield
Dirty Face
Looting
Dead Cow
Milking A Cow
Refugee
Russian Soldier
Nazi Occupied Soviet Union
Extermination
Horrors Of War
World War Two Partisan
Heap Of Corpses
Crime Against Humanity
Byelorussia
German Occupation Of The Soviet Union
Belarus
Setting A Barn On Fire
Pile Of Corpses
Trapped In A Burning Building
Soviet Partisan
Leaflets Dropped From An Airplane
German Officer
Parachute Caught In A Tree
Paratrooper
Stealing A Cow
Killing A Cow
Man Shot To Death
Scrubbing A Ketle
Russian Actor Playing Foreigner
Inhumanity
World War Two Atrocities
Group Photo
Left Behind
Bird Nest Full Of Eggs
Stepping On An Animal
Boot Swapping
Male Female Friendship
Village Elder
Clay
Tracer Bullet
Straw
Baby Picture
Leaflet
Horse And Cart
Buttermilk
Standing Watch
Gasoline Can
Loris
Bleeding From The Womb
Woman Shot To Death
Russian Actor Playing German Character
Triggered
Right Wing Government
Extreme Cruelty
Epic Drama
Army Vs Civilians
Title Based On The Bible
Tinnitus
Mowing Down
Collaborator
Turkey The Bird
Sentry Duty
Shooting A Cow
Stork
Anti Communism
Right Wing Politics
Tarkovskyesque
Optimism
Also Known As
Viens et vois, Gå og se, Va' e vedi, Vá e Veja, Idź i patrz, Come and See, Honoo 628, Come and See, Gå og se, Come and See, Ela na deis, Ven y mira, Vino si vezi, Иди и виж, Tule ja katso, Geh und sieh, Jöjj és lásd!, Gå och se, Requiem pour un massacre, Masacre: ven y mira, Gel ve gör, Come and See, Έλα να δεις, Vem e Vê, Va et regarde, Ven y mira, Masacre (Ven y Mira), Ven y mira, Idi i gledaj, Kom en zie, Иди и смотри, Ga en kijk, Келип көр, Ідзі і глядзі, Idi i smotri, Jdi a dívej se, Іди і дивись, Idi i smotri