Come and See (The Criterion Collection) [Blu-ray]

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This extra debuts three of those five documentaries, titled Handful of Sand, Mute Scream, and Woman From The Killed Village.

This deceptive idyllic disintegrates, however, when the Germans bomb and storm the empty camp, kicking up clouds of dirt and smoke that never seem to fully leave the screen for the rest of Come and See’s duration. Uniqueness/Impact: A rare anti-war film that blends philosophy, biblical concepts, surrealism, and of course brutal violence to depict the horrors of the war in both a relatively realistic and poetic way. Come And See is a much-welcomed addition to the Criterion family as this film is one of the best takes on the Holocaust. In archival interviews from 2001, Elem Klimov, actor Alexei Kravchenko, and production designer Viktor Petrov discuss the grueling experience of making the film. Klimov used real survivors and their relatives while making the film and the raw emotions his camera captures, especially during close-ups, are absolutely bone-chilling.Deakins lists Come and See as one of his favourite films and he explains why he is so awe-struck by the film’s visuals and framing and how it has inspired him, really gushing over it and its use of the Academy ratio and the Steadicam in a few shots. Criterion knocked it out of the park with its video and audio transfers along with its fantastic bonus features. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience.

The events in the film are seen primarily through the eyes of a fatherless boy named Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko) who is slowly pushed on the verge of a complete mental breakdown. As Nazi forces encroach on his small village in what is now known as Belarus, teenage Flyora (Alexei Kravchenko, in a searing depiction of anguish) eagerly joins the Soviet resistance. Criterion gave this a new 1080p HD transfer with its original mono soundtrack and tons of new and vintage extras.Black levels look astounding as well, rich and deep without crushing out detail, allowing those details in the shadows to still come through. Come and See’s frames are often choked with this fog—watching the film, one almost expects to see condensation on the screen’s surface—and Klimov fills the soundtrack with a kind of audio fog: the droning of bombers and surveillance planes, the whine of prolonged eardrum-ringing, an ambient and sparse score by Oleg Yanchenko. Adamovich and director Elem Klimov co-authored the screenplay, which shows the horrors through the eyes of a 13-year-old peasant boy named Florya (Alexei Kravchenko).

The two kids must survive a trek across mud, hills, forests, and bodies while also dodging bullets, bombs, and a variety of enemy soldiers. I had just seen "Come and See" again recently, after many years, and a very short time later, saw "The Painted Bird" for the first time. I did a few comparisons with the old DVD release I have in my library and to be honest was quite surprised by the massive upgrade. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.As they journey, the soundtrack is filled with alarmingly loud bombs and explosions that almost sound like a hellish symphony of classical music conducted by evil, complete with screams, dead carcasses, and flies eating the flesh of the dead. The Blu-ray release offers such vastly superior technical presentation that I actually felt like I hadn't see the film before. Read more about the condition New: An item that is still in its original shrink wrap from the manufacturer and the original manufacturer’s seal (if applicable) has not been removed. The carnage they discover overwhelms them and they leave the area, but shortly after Flyora begins to realize that the entire country has been set on fire. With a remarkable visual style along with a terrifying journey in the center of hell on earth, this film is one of the best narratives on the cruelties of the Holocaust and WWII.

The 1080p/24hz high-definition encode is sourced from a new 2K restoration performed by Mosfilm and scanned from the 35mm original negative. Flyora and other resistance fighters must in someway envy the dead as it puts to rest the harmful world around them, even so much that they try and bury their head in mud to drown the noise out.encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, Come and See arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Criterion. Fine object-detail really dives off of the screen in every shot, from fine hairs and wrinkles found in the numerous close-ups throughout the film, to the trees, vegetation, and debris presented in longer shots. There’s no transcendent truth, no noble human dignity to be dug up from the mass graves of the Holocaust.