Rating: 
Summary: Very Powerful Film
Review: A must see movie! The Soviet Propaganda (which is fairly heavy throughout the film) just makes it more fun to watch. You can learn a lot about Soviets and Soviet film makers + the era of the war just from watching this film. If you haven't seen it yet, give it a chance. =)
Rating:
Summary: Great Film
Review: After you see the first couple of scenes of this film you wonder if you are watching the work of a surrealist. The story fragments do not seem to connect and the characters are hardly appealing or even understandable. However as the film moves on the story emerges. The film is set in German occupied Russia in 1943. A young boy joins the partisans but is deafened and disorientated by a bombing attack. He wanders around moving towards his own village. Around him moves a group of German SS troops leaving carnage as they massacre the women children and elderly men in the villages. You do not see the Germans till the last part of the film but their presence is everywhere. The climax of the film is his meeting with the SS unit as it moves into and destroys a village. In the end the film is one of the most gripping and realistic portraits of war ever made. The film has no heroes, there is no message yet the film captures you in its intensity. None of the characters are attractive and the feeling is one of realism. In the last few years a number of films have been made about combat on the Eastern Front. For instance Enemy at the Gates and Stalingrad. Both films look like sanitised television shows by comparison. The film is both effective as a work of art and also of a portrait of the reality of a brutal conflict.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT IS THIS? RETURN OF THE LASERDISC?!?
Review: Alright let me start by saying Come and See is the most shattering, emotionally damaging war film ever created by anyone in any country in the entire history of film (which means its also one of the most shattering, emotionally damaging films ever created PERIOD). This is not fun viewing, this is not light viewing, but it is ESSENTIAL VIEWING. This is the movie they should show to high school kids. The movie is one of the strongest indictments against humanity that the arts have seen in decades. BUT, if you are going to get the film, I ADVISE BUYING THE VHS COPY INSTEAD. Why? Because this is a Kino release and sticking to their reputation, they rushed and screwed up yet another important and vital release. First off, THIS DVD IS A TWO DISC LENGTH RELEASE(aka the movie is spread out over two discs)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The film is only a little over two hours long, yet you have to swtich dics half way through, something I thought they did away with after laserdiscs. This wouldnt be so bad if it werent for the bugged-out menus, the cheap presentation, problems with layer skipping and the HORRIBLE VIDEO TRANSFER. The film is in full-screen format, and the picture looks like it was taken straight off the VHS release with no remastering. Its washed out, cut up, and ugly to look at for the first good 3/4 of the movie. WHile there are some good extras on here, theyre not really worth it. While i advise everyone to purchase this movie, DO NOT BUY THIS DVD UNLESS IT IS THE CHEAPEST AVAILABLE. Get the VHS and watch the movie uninterrupted. After all, you're not gonna get any worse of a picture, it's awful on both formats. BEWARE.
Rating:
Summary: Masterpiece
Review: By chance I saw the final half hour or so of this film on the Bravo station about twenty years ago, and for twenty years the images remained seared in my mind. I didn't know anything about the film, except that I felt like it was the first time that I had gotten some very remote idea of what it would be to have my home attacked and friends and family killed, as has happened to so many people in so many wars (although never before on the scale of WW II). For two decades I looked for a copy of it, but I had recorded the wrong title, and only by chance I recently stumbled across the DVD for rental at Blue Moon Books & Video in Santa Fe and got to see the whole film. It shows the experiences of a teenage boy who joins the partisans fighting the invading German army in Byelorussia. I won't get into details, as it's best to experience it yourself.... The events are recorded dispassionately as if it was a documentary, yet the images carry the resonance of a dream. A very harrowing and unforgettable film. I would like to see a nicer DVD edition of this (Criterion?), but in any case this film is a must-see and I enjoyed the extras as well. Despite the DVD's shortcomings, I still highly recommend it.
Rating:
Summary: Soviet Propaganda that Joesph Stalin would enjoy
Review: COME AND SEE is a good WWII movie that should interest and even shock most viewers.
The story is about a young teenager, named Flora, living in Nazi occupied BeloRussia in the Summer of 1943. After a short series of events, he decides to join a local Partisan group of about 100 fighters. The group is led by a macho commander who is a stereotypical "tough guy" leader found in every war movie ever made.
After another series of events, Flora becomes separated from his newfound Partisan group. He then wanders the BeloRussian countryside with various other comrades (including a young "hottie" wearing a tight dress who likes to dance in the rain), until he finds himself seeking refuge among a large family in a small village. However about 100 German SS troopers soon arrive, and wipe out everything and everyone in this village (except Flora, of course, because the movie would abruptly end if he wasn't spared by the Germans). Shortly after the evil Nazis leave the village in transport trucks, jeeps, and motorcycles, Flora encounters the aftermath of an ambush on the SS convoy executed perfectly by his original band of Partisans. The few Nazi survivors plead for their lives, just like the Russian villagers had done before their execution, but Flora, "tough guy" leader, and the rest of the Partisans shoot everyone, including a portrait of Adolf Hitler, to make sure the Soviets have their justified revenge.
My major complaint with this movie is that the combat during the ambush is not depicted. I guess the producer didn't have the budget, and the director didn't have the technical ability to pull it off. Instead, I am left to my imagination how 100 ill trained and ill equiped Soviet partisans operating deep in enemy occupied territory can wipe out 100 Waffen SS troopers who never have the chance to radio for reinforcements.
That said, COME AND SEE is still a realistic movie about the horrors and suffering of war, especially that experienced by the Russian civilians during WWII.
Rating:
Summary: Come and See.
Review: COME AND SEE, is perhaps the best war movie ever made.
I'll admit that this is a highly charged statement made
about a genre that has produced more than a few
immaculately good films like DAS BOOT and APOCALYSE NOW,
but this film is easily my favourite. COME AND SEE addressses the madness that is war in dreamlike stream of consciousness and tells the story of a young boy (12) desperate to see the adventure that he thinks that the Nazis invading his motherland Russia will bring. The war that he finds is not anything that he expected. This war has no form, no control, no.. order. Civilization ceases to exist and eventually our "hero" embraces the essence of war and exists purely for hate. The message is simple. Hatred is contagious, even the innocent succumb.
Simply magnificent.
Christina Brooks
Rating:
Summary: Harrowing realism; reflects director's wartime experience
Review: Elem Klimov directed this masterpiece with passion. His experience of World War II translates to film as mind-pummeling realism. Come and See puts to shame many war films that attempt realism through special effects. Klimov used real explosives and bullets (what!) in filming many of these scenes. Klimov feared the young actor in the lead was too young to effectively dramatize the WWII experience, so he hypnotized the boy to elicit deeper engagement. Older Russians, deeply moved, embraced the young actor at the close of the premiere. I saw this film nearly 20 years ago in an "art theater" and the print was terrible. So bad that it appeared to be in black-and-white. No matter. The film knocked the wind out of me: I was completely absorbed in the unpleasant experience. I bought the Kino 2-disc DVD version a few years ago and was amazed at the quality of the picture. The supplements are very interesting: some historical documentaries (with shocking footage) and interviews with film cast/crew. I don't have direct experience of war, but in my humble opinion, this film may come closer than most to giving the viewer an indirect experience of the terror of war. And it may be a film for younger Russians to get an idea of what the grandparents went through. Viewer discretion advised.
Rating:
Summary: A note to the "Too Much" reviewer below:
Review: Have you seen any AMERICAN war movies that tell the truth about WWII? Do you still think it was the U.S. that "saved" Europe and stopped the Nazis? Anyway, one of the best films ever made . . .la la la and all that. It really is, though, if anyone reading this hasn't seen this film yet, slap yourself and go watch it. You'll never want to see Bruce Willis again.
Rating:
Summary: THE BEST THERE IS OUT THERE!!!
Review: HOLLYWOOD WILL NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER WILL COME CLOSE TO THIS. THIS WILL NEVER BE MATCHED!!!
Rating:
Summary: Not Sure I'm Ready To See It Again
Review: I saw this movie in Paris about 15 years ago. Just happened upon it, playing at an obscure theater, and decided to give it a try. I had never seen a Russian WW II movie and was curious to see how they handled it. Seeing the film like that with no foreknowledge or preparation was a devastating experience -- it was frighteningly moving and depicted war in a way I'd never thought possible. The film made a big impression on me. The years passed, and occasionally I would think about the film. I didn't really even know its title in English (as I said, I saw it in France, with Russian soundtrack and French subtitles). I happened to come across references to the film recently on the web, so I went to Amazon.com's site (and other on-line sellers of videos) to see if it was available, and, to my surprise here it is. The problem is that, because this film is so heavy and, in many ways, disturbing, I'm going to have to think about obtaining it and seeing it again. Maybe it was best to have come across it by chance one evening in Paris, and leave it at that . . . . But for all of you who are wondering about this film, see it. It will likely have a profound effect on you.
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