Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant!
Review: Stunning, haunting film. Brilliant evocation of savage Nazi cruelty. I've seen it broadcast on British TV twice. But why only a DVD release for Region 1 viewers? Please, please, please will the powers that be release this for region 2!
Rating:
Summary: The best war drama ever!
Review: Superb directing, acting, sound track .. Very original and moving and yet natural. Puts american artificial cinema to shame. This movie is a must for any film library. The DVD layout/ design needs some improvements (as reviewed above) although introducing such a movie to the superficial north american market has been a great job in itself.
Rating: 
Summary: 1 Star for the DVD - 5 stars for the film
Review: The film is superb but this is the WORST DVD I have ever bought. The 5.1 mix is appalling and there are frequent pauses in the pictures. The film is not very long but has been inexplicably split over 2 discs meaning a disc change half way through the film.The film is a must see, but not on this DVD. Buy the video version instead, you get the same film with no interuptions and without the sound being messed up.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Russian war films
Review: There is few very good reviews on this film . I don't want to repeat them ... just want to add .
It is 2 very interesting facts about this film :
1. Director Elem Klimov did quit directing after this film , but I am not shure , that this was only " his " decision .
2. A mane character story in this movie , is very different - to make shure , that a boy will understand every little part of it , director shout every scene in chronological order .... I never heard about that way before . But it DID work . The kid did exellent job ... Very important and realistick film , which hurts and does make you think at the same time .
Very good , but very unknown ... let's change it .
Rating:
Summary: Great movie, awful DVD
Review: This is a great movie, but Kino-Video is true to itself: no widescreen format release, while it is obvious that the movie was intended for the widescreen viewing and is diminished in the standard format, unnecessary 2 disk transfer, bad menu layout and uneven sound quality.
Rating: 
Summary: Soviet Propaganda - for once close to the truth
Review: This movie is awesome, provided you like WWII movies, especially those that take place on the Eastern Front. You may think twice about watching it however, simply because it is BRUTAL! This movie fills a historical gap on the catastrophe that took place in Byelorussia during the Soviet invasion, and in this case focuses on the destruction of the slavs who lived in the villages, and not on the Jews who took the brunt of the killing in the early years of the war. Quite realistic in a gritty, real war display that tears your heart out to think that people were hunted down and slaughtered by this incredible killing machine known as the German Army. The Germans might actually have won or at least delayed the end if they had spent their time killing the Red Army instead of women and children (a sober thought indeed!). In short, this film and hundreds more like it are needed to tell this story in detail, to remind the world periodically that this was the worst it has ever been anywhere.
Rating:
Summary: Thought provoking. Very important motion picture.
Review: This movie is divided on two discs because it's a 2-episode miniseries. Video quality isn't great but is better than VHS. Full screen format. Winner of Golden prize at Moscow International Film Festival 1985
Rating:
Summary: worth it
Review: This was a very powerful film and well worth it -- It definitely comes from a European cinema school -- with tight face shots talking directly to the camera. Overall, the film remineded me of Ingmar Bergman (Wild Strawberries) meets "Schindler's list." It is also reminicint of "The Thin Red Line" but there is a feeling of much more purpose to the poetic shots. Come & See is far more successful than TRL being a deeply psychologic "art film." Florian's mental traumatization and loss of innocence carries a weight and conviction that is missing in TRL. About the DVD:
The transfer is fine. I've seen better transfers, but this was not a problem. It was a good (just not great) transfer. There were little or no artifacts and the color was decent. The screen gets a bit dark at times, but that is all. Don't let the transfer stop you from purchasing it. The sound, which is crucial in this film (the ringing in Florian's ears and his impaired hearing is vital to the film's meaning) was given a very a good treatment on the DVD. Is it "Attack of the Clones" all digital recording? No, but it was still well done. I'm near certain the film was shot at 1.33:1 academy standard. Every shot was framed perfectly for this format, so (similar to the remastered "Full Metal Jacket") don't look for a widescreen version --- the 1.33 is the original. The menus are a bit quirky and could have been done better, but once you're watching the film who cares? It would have been nice if the movie was contained on 1 disc and not spread out over two -- but if you can deal with 2 discs for "Pearl Harbor," "Cleopatra," and "Lord of the Rings-extended" you can deal with it on this one. There is an interesting short Soviet documentary on Nazi attrocities included on the DVD.
Rating:
Summary: A Timeless, Unforgettable Masterpiece
Review: Throughout the entire history of cinema there are only a handful of films that have managed to realistically and graphically illustrate the true horror that is War. Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan" obviously immediately springs to mind (along with the TV mini-series companion piece "Band Of Brothers") but the majority, even the most accomplished in other respects, don't quite deliver the cerebral body blow that screams out imploringly - "this is insanity!" Elem Klimov's stunning Come And See is not only a landmark within its genre but is also a cinematic masterpiece and possibly the ultimate WWII film. It is draining both physically and emotionally and time will not diminish its impact upon the first-time viewer. In just under two and a half hours Klimov creates an unending tapestry of exquisite, almost lyrical, poeticism even when depicting the most brutal of atrocities mankind can inflict on his fellow being. The film is all the more affecting because of this. A beautiful girl's impromptu ballet in the rain and an SS unit's indifferent smugness and celebration at their own butchery blitz the senses. Working on a variety of levels, the film can be taken as a personal statement of innocence lost as well as the broader metaphor of being a relentlessly brutal condemnation of War. Florya is a twelve-year-old boy living in 1943 Byelorussia. Having recovered an abandoned gun, he gleefully joins a group of Russian partisans fighting the Nazi's, the naivety of his youth making it all seem like an exciting adventure. That is until the reality of his situation confronts him head-on when he becomes separated from his unit during a paratroop attack. Struck deaf by the Nazi artillery, he stumbles across Glasha, a pretty peasant girl also displaced, and together the pair wander their way across the brutalised Russian landscape back to his village.
Here they find only a mass of dead bodies, everyone having been slaughtered including Florya's mother and younger sisters. Their subsequent search for food draws them to a neighbouring village where they witness the Nazis massacre the populace either by machine-gunning or being driven into a barn that is subsequently torched. The film is a traumatising epic on the absolute horror of War that, once viewed, will remain in your subconscious forever - a timeless, unforgettable masterpiece.
Rating:
Summary: Breathtaking Film!
Review: While some of the points about the DVD release are valid. In defense of Kino, this is an excellent quality transfer that ideally should be on one disc. I have seen this release and it was mastered and prepared in Russia. It has subtitles in 15 languages and audio in at least 3 languages.Perhaps the Russians are behind Hollywood in providing everything expected technically. That said, this is an utterly breathtaking film and Kino should be given credit for distributing this film to North American audiences . A few technical grievances shouldn't keep viewers from viewing this amazing film.
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