Elem Klimov's Belarussian epic is one of the greatest war films of all time... but you've probably never heard of it. A then-15-year-old Aleksei Kravchenko plays Florya, an eager recruit to World War Two's Russian resistance, whose experience of battle (and eventually genocide) is told as a nightmarish coming-of-age journey. It's impossible to overstate its impact and magnitude, even 21 years after the film was made.
Although packaged over two discs, the extras are peculiarly sparse; however, what we do get is insightful and gripping. Highlights are interviews with Klimov and an adult Kravchenkov - the latter's descriptions of the horrendous filming conditions putting piffly Hollywood moaners to shame. It's no wonder the film itself is a revelation: Come And See is slow, surreal, horrific and terrifying, much like its devastating subject matter. Be prepared to make room on your Belarussian war-film shelf.
