Kom en Zie (Idi I Smotri)
Elem Klimov’s film classic about the Nazi terror in Belarus has gone down in film history as the anti-war film that makes war almost palpable. Digital restoration of probably the greatest war film of all time.
In the summer of 1943, 14-year-old Flyora is a naive Belarusian boy, determined to join the partisan resistance movement. By the end of the story, he is a human wreck, from whose face all traces of the innocence of childhood have disappeared forever. Flyora suffers greatly, yet still manages to experience some tragicomic moments and his first erotic encounter. His suffering was shared by the majority of Belarusians who grew up during World War II. At that time, the Germans in Belarus initiated the strategy known as ‘scorched earth’, which included burning the inhabitants of over six hundred villages alive. Elem Klimov shot the film chronologically, which greatly helped the actor in the leading role, Aleksey Kravchenko, in identifying with his character. Flyora’s deranged inner self was articulated not only through the actor’s performance, but to a large extent through the camerawork and sound editing.