Come and See (1985, Elem Klimov)

Throughout the ages, war films has always been depicted in the garb of patriotism or showcasing the valour of the fallen martyrs.

A generic trope to be implicated in a nutshell.

As I pen down my thoughts on possibly the most devastating war film I've ever seen to date, with goosebumps on my arms while shivering in fear and respect.

Come and See soars high above the horizon. The modus operandi was acquainted by director Elem Klimov to illustrate the excruciating anarchy and dictatorship of the monstrous fascist powers, if possible to describe it shortly, making the most natural anecdotes out of the harrowing days of shrieks and despairs.

Not at all abiding by the fundamental attributes of instigating melodramatic scenarios, the enrichment in the frames slowly elevating to the doldrums is exhilaratingly poetic and remorseful.

While the film triumphs over the technicalities, the soul stays with the young protagonist, Flyora. Since the film plays out mostly through his perspective, it becomes way more catastrophic than it's supposed to be. An estranged teenager, running away from homeland, battling alongside an inferior infantry, finding compassion within a girl, and finally losing it all and starting all over again is the never-before-seen trump card that the director plays perfectly in his swansong, and makes it the greatest war film ever made. Atleast for me. Flyora lives in my heart, rent-free.

The world's a barren land. People blossomed with enormous power and strength takes the baton and forms a race. The race of survival for the minors, and gets the responsibility to decide which one breathes and which one suffocates to death. This irreparable authority of being looked upon as a prophet is what brings the anarchy and violence embarking on a repertoire of confrontations, leading to wrathful vengeance. And it's not something rightful to leave with, irrespective of the personality human nature is born with.

All of this is encapsulated in just a short and horrifying segment of a vengeful Flyora, eyes brimming with retribution and hostility, shooting relentlessly at a portrait of the German dictator, while the entire procedure of commencement of war rewinds and ceases to exist, leaving him at his mother's lap, the heaven of innocence. That's the unparalleled greatness of this film, having the potential to change the world, even if by a speck of a dust.