A WWII film featuring a harrowing 25-minute “sequence from hell” has been hailed as one of the highest-rated movies of all time.
This Soviet anti-war masterpiece, Come and See (1985), is widely praised for its brutal and realistic portrayal of wartime horrors, and is often described as an essential, must-watch film.
On social media, viewers have expressed strong reactions:
“It is horrifying, accurate, and devastating in every sense.”
“Not a fun or enjoyable movie, but absolutely necessary.”
“One of the most disturbing films I’ve ever seen. It will stay with me forever, a true testament to the power of cinema.”
Come and See is based on the 1971 novel Khatyn by Ales Adamovich and the 1977 collection of survivor testimonies, I Am from the Fiery Village. Directed by Elem Klimov, who drew on his own childhood experiences during the war, the film tells the story of Flyora, a teenage boy living through the Nazi occupation of Belarus, portrayed by Aleksei Kravchenko.
The film was shot chronologically, showing Flyora’s transformation from a carefree child into a traumatized survivor of unspeakable atrocities. One of its most infamous moments is a 25-minute sequence, widely regarded as one of the most gut-wrenching depictions of war ever captured on screen. In this scene, Flyora is held at gunpoint by Nazi soldiers as he witnesses an entire village burned alive inside a church.
Kravchenko, who took a decade-long break from acting after this film, has said he was treated like an adult on set and pushed to the limits of his endurance. To prepare, Klimov asked him to lose weight and even showed him footage from Nazi concentration camps to capture the right tone for the film.
With a 96% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes and ranking 41st in the Sight & Sound Directors’ poll of the greatest films ever made, Come and See has received critical acclaim across the board.
Reviewers praise the film’s unique perspective:
Robert Daniels from The Playlist highlights how Klimov’s choice to tell the story through a child’s eyes adds an intense immediacy to the horrors depicted.
Matt Brunson from Film Frenzy calls it “one of the most devastating portrayals of conflict ever filmed.”
Ken Hanke of Mountain Xpress describes it as “perhaps the most terrifying, nightmarish war film ever made.”
On Letterboxd, the film is voted the highest-rated narrative feature of all time.
Kravchenko revealed he underwent hypnosis to cope with the traumatic scenes, though he later admitted he had to pretend during the process as he wasn’t easily hypnotized.
Elem Klimov called Come and See “a passionate warning against war.” The film’s use of authentic Nazi archival footage further drives home the grim reality it portrays, reminding viewers that the horrors on screen are far from fiction, they reflect the true suffering endured by millions.
