Is the Soviet WW2 film “Come and See” accurate?

Is the film "Come and See" historically accurate? Let's find out!

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ABOUT TIK 📝

History isn’t as boring as some people think, and my goal is to get people talking about it. I also want to dispel the myths and distortions that ruin our perception of the past by asking a simple question - “But is this really the case?”. I have a 2:1 Degree in History and a passion for early 20th Century conflicts (mainly WW2). I’m therefore approaching this like I would an academic essay. Lots of sources, quotes, references and so on. Only the truth will do.

This video is discussing events or concepts that are academic, educational and historical in nature. This video is for informational purposes and was created so we may better understand the past and learn from the mistakes others have made.

[robertalaverdov]

Come and See is in my opinion one of a few war movies that you can watch that doesn't glorify war in any way. There are no glorious sacrifices, no valiant heroes. Just utter pain and suffering that was experienced by the population. It doesn't make you wish for war because it shows you the true horrors of it through the perspective of Florya. In the end you're left with a feeling of dread because Come and See dragged you along as a helpless observer. Leaving you with survivors guilt. Just an incredible work of cinema, go and watch it one day.

[konstantinriumin]

What i love about the move (among other things) is that, unlike other soviet films, Partisans are not portrayed as glorious heroes, but as scared, numb from violence and death, shell shocked survivors

[grahamgilbert]

It's a fictional village, not Katyn, and the film is indeed "not a documentary". It mixes ultra-realism with elements of surrealism, but what is authentic about it is its emotional impact. That final hour places us 'right there', and we can't look away. It re-sensitises us to the horrors in a way that no other movie can touch.

[kevinpascual]

The closest a war film has come to horror. Great film.

[TirarADeguello]

Okay, huge movie buff, seen this movie a few times, and I am old enough to know some German's and Ukrainians who lived through these moments in time. I would chalk up the mislabeling of the German unit and uniforms to the soldiers trying to lie their way out of trouble. This happened often, saying, you really aren't this unit or that to avoid being killed or tortured. It's not a goof or inaccuracy, more them trying to hide their true unit identity. Some troops even changed their uniform badges for this purpose or disposed of rank or unit markings if they knew they would be captured soon. Just my thoughts, loved your review, and thought you were spot on.

[godweenausten]

In regards to accurate props in movies, especially with uniforms, weapons, and vehicles, and especially with relatively low(er) budget movies, one must give some slack. Movie producers, prop masters, etc, work with what they can get their hands on, even if they know it might be inaccurate and insufficient.

About the criminal units portrayed in the movie: the captured germans told wrong unit affiliation all the time to their captors, out of fear of retribution and punishment. So if one officer said the name of another unit, which happened to be in another part of Europe at the time, this might not be movie's historical inaccuracy, but rather, an attempt at disinformation by the said captive. It's not like they felt bound to any geneva conventions anyway.

[iansmith]

Come and See is great because it isn't a typical Soviet war movie. It shows the the true horror of the "Great Patriotic War". Instead of glorifying the Soviet cause, it shows the real reason the Soviet people sacrificed so much; more than any other nation, to defeat Nazi Germany. In a way it was also ahead of its time.

[Nealikus]

Fairly certain it’s not meant to be realistic, but rather capture the chaos and emotional gravity of the situation for an audience that wasn’t there and couldn’t even imagine what it would be like.

[warhund]

My grandpa was 15, soon to be 16 when he joined the Partisans in Yugoslavia.
He was lucky because his family was alive but there wasnt that much food to go around and when the "Army" came they told his mother he was to go with them to work and pick corn on the fields.
They didnt have any idea he was to become a soldier nor did he, they were simple people living in a village and they didnt know..
So when he went of course there was no corn and he was given a weapon, had a short training and off to attacking german patrols from ambushes ectr..
At first he was lucky, survived long enough to learn how to keep himself safe. To duck or lie down when you are supose to, to run forwards or backwards..
He almost lost his life 3 times during the war and all were near the end.

First was when he was given an order to shoot a captured german soldier, some kid who was of little importance due to his lack of rank and young age.
Some kid, perhaps 16 years old, that reminded my grandpa of him when he was first enlisted.. Kid was scared, cried for his mother.. By that time my grandpa was a veteran of sorts, 19 years old, with 3 years in the war.. He was panicking, he didnt want to shoot the kid and he knew if he refused he would probably get shot himself.. If he is to let him go and lie, kid would just get captured again and that would again get him shot and even perhaps get his family in trouble (being the family of a traitor).. During this dillema he was buying time for himself, getting the prisoner to walk towards a forested area nearby when a young woman, a girl you can say, stood up and demanded to get this job, begging him and the officer that gave the order.
He "reluctantly" agreed and let her have the kid, and she also of the similar age took him to the woods and shot him.
Her entire family, including her little kid brother, was slaughtered by the germans or some colaborators..
So she didnt have the problem doing it, for her it was a pleasure..

Second time was when a boat tipped over (they were on some patrol and got fired at by some germans or ustashe from the opposite bank) and he fell into the icy water. This one would come to haunt him later and this is what killed him in the end, but some 40 years later.
He survived the incident, was well after a while and resumed the war and his dutties but some years after the war (when he was about 30) got chronical lung problems that gave him problems all his life and eventualy he died because of it at the age of 59.

Third was when he wanted to commit suicide, during the Sremski front. He got a rank by that time and day after day a new bunch of kids were thrown in against entranched german and ustashe positions. The kids would just die while the veterans remained (they knew a bit about war while the kids just didnt) and this was going on day after day after day... Until he just couldnt take it anymore and put a pistol to his head and almost did it.. He never knew what stopped him, he claims to have seen his mother and the village priest telling him not to do it since it is the biggest sin to take your life so in the end he didnt do it but that part or the war he always avoided talking about. In his opinion it was just a stupid bloodbath that happened for no good reason since the war was soon to be over either way.. Tito just wanted to rack up as much political points and prove his army to be effective and make them an equal participant.

[Irys]

Oh dude, this is a crossover episode I never expected (though I probably should have after the Dirlewanger episode, which immediately brought image after image from "Come and See" to mind). I have a rough day at work today but will be watching this asap

In addition to the brutality, "Come and See" does one of the best jobs in film of showing the vastness of the area we're talking about here. Before seeing it, I could never understand how the Germans couldn't have garrisoned enough occupation troops to control the territory, after watching it, I was dumbfounded that they ever tried such an impossible task with 1/20th the forces required, it seemed. I guess they thought they could make up for it with the brutality

[dastemplar]

The ending is truly one of the most impactful pieces of film I have ever watched. From the massacre itself, the scene with the captured SS, to the scene where Flyora shoots the picture of Hitler.

I especially love the bit where the SS officer was on his “not every race has the right to exist” monologue and the Partisan leader tells the translator to speak louder and have every partisan around listen to what the officer was saying. Telling his men to take the opportunity to learn and grasp who exactly they were up against, what they were fighting for, what kind of men they must stop.

[grieftex]

we are reaching levels of nitpicking that shouldn't be possible

[CruelDwarf]

The thing about Ukrainian (or any other Soviet citizens) volunteers into SS, Soviet movies and media in general skirted around this issue quite carefully. It basically never mentioned. Come and See never really recognizes anyone of the SS troops as collaborators, it is only really implied.

P.S. Also the name of the real village is Khatyn and not Katyn. Different places altogether. Sometimes some Western sources often use this similarity as some sort of Soviet attempt to divert attention, but it doesn't make a lot of sense. Both names sound quite differently in Russian.

[loungelizard]

I love this movie, the artillery making the trees in the forest shake, the real tracers being shot over Flyora while he hides behind a cow, it was shocking when I first saw it. You don't usually see this level of rawness in movies, especially today with the ubiquitous use of CGI. I never noticed the parallels between the end scene and the end of the war, when the Soviets did want to treat all Nazis as they were treated in the film, thank you for that TIK. I think the inaccuracies of the film are forgivable as they serve a purpose, the film is certainly a cut above in realism compared to its contemporaries. Much of the film isn't really a war film, more of a horror set in a war. Thanks for the video.

[usun_current]

I watched it once, as a kid in Belarus, airing in the middle of the day on a state owned channel. So no adult supervision. It traumatized me so much, I never could rewatch it again. What were they thinking showing it during the day after school hours?

[iqanadil]

This was the most difficult film I tried to watch. Took me 3 attempts to finish it. To say it's brutal is an understatement.

[Nomad]

Fun Fact: The photo of baby Hitler is actually a composite photograph as no such photographs of young Hitler with his mother are known to exist.

[Bicloptic]

One of those great movies that you’ll never want to see a second time.

[EnSayne]

Small detail but I wanted to mention it, the "SS logo" isn't lightning bolts as typically assumed, they are sig runes dating back to the old Germanic runic alphabets and basically the old equivalent of the letter S.

[davidlloyd]

Come and see is a very good film, and the girl getting driven away in the lorry is horrific. The first time you see the hatred in the SS officers face at the end, captures the mood perfectly. The Goebbels children murder scene in downfall, as far as pure evil goes, takes some beating, and upsets me just thinking about it.