Come and See (Idi i Smotri, Elem Klimov, 1985)

A young boy in Belarus decides to fight the nazis after finding an abandoned rifle. After losing his unit he decides to go back to his village and thus starts his nightmarish journey.

No war film and very few films in general are as powerful, disturbing and shocking. The film shows in a truly harrowing way what it's like to be in a warzone...not in battle or combat but the middle of a war. It completely abandons classic conventions of the war film like heroic feats or sacrifices, there is no attempt or brave speech to stir people into action. We are subjected to death, brutality and random victims. Those who survive are no better off.

The courage, compassion and craft of Elem Klimov to make such a film is admirable and Aleksei Kravchencko who plays the main role is incredible when one thinks that he was only thirteen when he played this role. This is an unforgetable film and has more effect on the viewer than almost any other. It forcefully asks how something so horrible and wrong could ever happen .

There are many (and not exclusively Hollywood) anti-war films. But they normally make the mistake to show war as an exciting, even beautiful, spectacle. One example is Apocalypse Now, which Come and See is often compared to. But Come and See shows a vision of Hell on Earth.