A Lot or a Little?
What you will—and won't—find in this movie.
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Positive Messages
some
While it's an extremely difficult watch with its depictions of war, there is a very clear anti-war message. Harrowing, realistic, and horrific, the movie tries to get close to the reality of war to show how bad it is. An older man scolds children for playing as soldiers, so they understand the seriousness of war. Fascism is shown to be utterly corrupting and dehumanizing. Some characters show courage in helping others.
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Positive Role Models
very little
Flyora is a young teen boy who finds a gun on a battlefield and joins partisans to fight the Nazis in Belarus during World War II. After his village is slaughtered and he witnesses the atrocities carried out by Nazi soldiers he is forever changed, disturbed and broken. Flyora's mother is furious and heartbroken that he wants to go to war and is driven to despair by grief. Glasha is a young woman who accompanies Flyora at camp. A character helps a boy hide his military clothes to make him appear as a civilian and gives him a family to join so he won't be persecuted as a soldier. A Nazi general watches his soldiers destroy a village and massacre its people. When captured, he claims to be innocent and a good man and denies all blame. A Nazi officer shows no remorse and says that the villager's nation doesn't have the right to exist and calls them an inferior race.
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Diverse Representations
very little
Airdropped German flyers use the racist term "Yids." Characters carry off a man and beat him, calling him "Yid" and "Jew bastard." Nazi soldiers in the movie are cruel, heartless killers who enjoy inhumane and heartless acts. The film is shot in the former Soviet Union with cast and crew from the region. Main parts are mostly filled by White males with some females in supporting roles. Languages spoken include Belarusian, Russian, and German.
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Violence & Scariness
a lot
Violent and disturbing scenes, footage of real-life horrific acts from WWII, and animal cruelty. Soldiers enjoy intimidating and attacking villagers. Hundreds of men, women, and children are forced into a barn church by soldiers. There are prolonged scenes of mass panic and terror before they are shot at. Soldiers throw petrol bombs at the barn church to burn everyone inside alive. They clap and cheer as it burns and the people inside scream. It is then fired on with machine guns and flamethrowers. People are kicked and beaten. A woman is dragged across the ground by her hair. Soldiers pose for a photo with a gun to a terrified prisoner's head. Captured Nazi soldiers are covered in petrol and shot dead. Slaughtered people are piled up against a building. A character overwhelmed with grief strangles a companion. A person with severe burns all over their body tells how soldiers covered them in gasoline and lit them on fire. Soldiers discuss torture. A character is deafened by bomb blasts. A foot is found after an explosion. A dead body is driven around with a sign that says "I insulted a German soldier this morning." A mother drags young children out of bed and asks son to kill them with an axe to show the impact of him going to war. A young woman has blood down her legs, it's implied she had been sexually assaulted and beaten. Soldiers drag a woman off by her hair and bundle her into a truck, where she is grabbed at, with an implied sexual purpose as the reason she's been spared death. Some real animal violence: a cow is shot and killed by machine gun fire. A horse with bound legs struggles on the ground. Pigs are kicked and chick eggs are stamped on.
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Sex, Romance & Nudity
very little
A young girl kisses a boy.
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Language
a lot
Infrequent language includes "bastards," "sh*te," "s--t," "goddammit," and "a--hole." Antisemitic slur "Yid" is used.
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Products & Purchases
none
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Drinking, Drugs & Smoking
some
Empty alcohol bottle is dropped out of a plane. Some soldiers are drunk while they invade a village and attack its inhabitants. Two characters smoke cigarettes.
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Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that Come and See is an unforgettable and almost unbearable Soviet anti-war movie that uses human horror to show the devastating effects of fascism. The movie follows young teen Flyoria (Aleksey Kravchenko) who joins a resistance group in Belarus to fight against the invading Germany army during World War II. Flyoria is forced to face the horrors of war and is changed forever, left aged and haunted. The violence and situations are disturbing, which include German soldiers rounding up villagers and tormenting them before burning them to death in a barn church. Other violence scenes include people being killed with machine gun fire and explosives, and strong threat. Sexual violence is also implied. The movie shows animals being injured in real life: a cow is shot to death with machine guns, a bound horse struggles on the ground, and baby chicks are trodden on in their eggs. Despite being a tough watch, the movie is artfully made and effective in showing the effects of war. Real-life footage of emaciated dead victims of the Nazis is shown at the end of the movie, cut with clips of Adolf Hitler and devastation during WWII. To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails.
What's the Story?
In COME AND SEE, young teen boy Flyoria (Aleksey Kravchenko) joins resistance fighters in Belarus to defend his country against the occupying German army during World War II. Soon he is forced to face the horrifying reality of war as the Nazis move through his country.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about the violence in Come and See. Did it feel like an action movie or something else? Was it there to be exciting or serve a different purpose? Does exposure to violent media desensitize kids to violence?
How did you feel seeing the real-life footage from World War II at the end of the movie? Did it give you a better understanding of the real-life impact of fascism? How to talk to kids about violence, crime, and war.
This film has been described as an anti-war movie. In what ways do you feel this to be true? How did it differ from other war movies you've seen?
Movie Details
- In theaters: February 6, 1986
- On DVD or streaming: January 28, 2015
- Cast: Aleksey Kravchenko, Olga Mironova, Liubomiras Laucevicius
- Director: Elem Klimov
- Inclusion Information: Female actors
- Studios: Criterion Collection, Seagull Films
- Genre: Drama
- Topics: History
- Run time: 144 minutes
- MPAA rating: NR
- Last updated: April 4, 2024
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