Perhaps the most visceral anti-war film ever made, we’re commemorating the 40th anniversary of Elem Klimov’s Come and See, a poetic portrait of the horrors of World War II both harrowingly hyper-real and unsettlingly surreal. Somewhere in the Belarusian countryside, 1934, teenage boy Flyora (Aleksei Kravchenko) eagerly joins the resistance movement, hoping to adventurously defend his country against the encroaching Nazi forces. As a low-rank militiaman, Flyora carries out menial tasks and meets the adolescent girl Glasha (Olga Mironova) before they both face the atrocities of war head on.

“This is something we must leave after us. As evidence of war, and as a plea for peace.” affirms director Elem Klimov who fought eight years of censorship from the Soviet authorities before he was even allowed to begin production on Come and See. Based on first hand accounts, filmed with brutal historical accuracy, Klimov’s film invites us to witness the horrors of the German Occupation of Belorussia through an expressionist lens with a close-up focus on the face of Aleksei Kravchenko whose wide eyes, painful grimaces and gradual transformation reveals volumes of anguish beyond words. Heartbreakingly, this reminder of humanity’s capacity for evil remains all too relevant today.