to the screenplay, which they wrote jointly. Their intended meaning in the original script signified ‘to the Hitler in your self.’ When the 40th anniversary of V-Day was imminent, the authorities had approached Adamovich requesting that a film would be made as part of these celebrations; and he made it clear to them that he would only resume the work if Klimov were the director. The new title came from the New Testament passage located in St.John the Divine chapter 6 which read: ‘…and I head one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “come and see” ‘. The actor who plays the lead role of the boy Florya, Alexei Kravchenko, was a young boy of only 13, although in the earlier stages of production, a young man of 15 who came from Siberia was selected. In his determination to represent desperate and extreme states of mind Klimov was also very anxious because the boy actor was inexperienced and not fully equipped for this ordeal. Kravchenko explains that during the filming the most harrowing scene for him took place in the wooden barn. He confesses how he ‘nearly lost his mind in there.’ All the filming took place on location in Belarus, and P. Mosherov, a Belarusian official sponsored the film. During this time Klimov remained on location for the whole duration. In his efforts to ensure that truth and authenticity were privileged, he went as far as using real bombs and ammunition and confesses how dangerous this was during production, when the sound of artillery fire shocked the cow on set, who fell over and nearly crushed some of the crew. Kravchenko says that the real bullets came within four inches of this head. Come and See has an enigmatic opening sequence, it is the back of an old man’s head, before the camera reveals his image in close-up. As he mutters ‘the good times are over’ we witness two boys digging for ammunition- their initiation into the Belarusian partisan’s army, raised to defend the villagers against the brutality of the invading Nazi soldiers. Wide and panning shots of a vast and barren landscape follow, sustaining a consistent sense of place and location which work to amplify the desperation of events taking place. As sounds of an army bomber fly above this scene, Klimov uses an aerial shot of the two boys, captured from this perspective; perhaps intending to signify how futile and insignificant their efforts are in the wider context of the events. The narrative encompasses the ordeal Florya encounters once the realities of army life set in and he finds himself in the unfriendly expanse of the forest, where the army camp is based and where he has to learn to shoot ‘if he is in doubt’. He is expected to ‘defend to the end’ because Hitler is ‘here on our soil.’ Klimov captures the fierceness and reality of this ambience through the use of natural lighting and diegetic sound: the animal and bird sounds of the forest, the fear of enemy soldiers in ambush, the daily reports on the radio of Belarusian casualties. As the entire army is summoned to stand still for a photograph, there is a somber moment in this stillness as the partisans assume a dignified pose and prepare to defend their survival. When the partisans leave Florya behind at the camp, he befriends the young Glasha. As the army camp comes under artillery fire, Florya goes temporarily deaf. Come and See pushes the boundaries of its audience’s sensibilities with shots of human degradation and extreme psychological despair. The sequence where Florya and Glasha return to his home demonstrates how absence can be visualized as it compels us to make the same emotional journey as the characters. Sound and space work in unison in Klimov’s work and become instrumental in raising emotions in the audience, whilst emerging as film tools to represent truth and honesty. A composite part of the narrative is the experience which Oleg Yanchenko’s music score offers as he creates original pieces which are also interlaced with Johann Strauss Jr’s Blue Danube, for the montage ending , Wagner’s Die Walkuire
and for the final scene Lacrimosa, from Mozart’s Requiem. As a ‘war film’ the audience witnesses the SS anti-Partisan activities, such as the scene in the village of Perekhody. Archive footage, juxtaposed with Klimov’s shots become an editing strategy which makes truth and representation his focus and enable him to grasp something of time. So, what wider recognition has this film received? Writing in The New York Times on 6th February 1987, the critic Walter Goodman spoke somewhat critically of the film’s ending as ‘a dose of instant inspirationalism’, whilst conceding to Klimov’s ‘unquestioned talent’. Its influence has been wide reaching, crossing from its alternative space, to Hollywood , as it is thought that Steven Spielburg had this in mind when filming Schindler’s List and Saving Private Ryan. As the Partisans are seen to defend themselves, in the face of the retreating Germans hope is imminent as we note the snow is falling; and it was in reality the harsh winter which finally defeated Hitler’s army. Watching the archive footage including concentration camps and Hitler as a child, the strain is visible upon Florya who shoots at a picture of Hitler’s face, in synchronization with the montage cuts as these show history in reverse. Compared with his cinematic predecessors, such as Eisenstein and Vertov, Klimov leaves a different, legacy. In the early 1930s these Soviet filmmakers wanted to reveal a new truth and make their audience see a new reality in the economic and political possibilities of Stalin’s new policies. They employed the jump cut and montage edits in order to break up and then to construct a new continuity. In Elem Klimov there is a re-thinking of how ‘truth’ is filmed and this explains how he may be regarded as revolutionary. Klimov goes for historical reconstruction, narrative continuity with long takes and sustained steady shots allowing the camera to linger. He despised falsehoods and did not compromise to be popular, sensational or expedient. He said to Adamovich: ‘no one will watch this film’ meaning that it was very shocking, but he felt that he had to make it this way. Apparently during some screenings in Hungary and Russia, women were taken away in ambulances. Klimov adds with irony that American audiences are happy to watch thrillers but his film was not popular with them something he attributes to the fact people cannot always accommodate the truth and reality. He adds that ‘after that film I couldn’t make anymore.’ He continues: ‘I didn’t regret I made that film. But one has to make a difference once in a while to …. something worthy, herein lies the sense of creative work. When you can offer people something real, some thing meaningful- real life. Lisa Socrates