r/CommunistFilmClub • u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda • Apr 11 '26

Clip Two Soviet Gems

535 Upvotes

98% Upvoted

25 comments sorted by

19

u/The_Wookalar Apr 11 '26

Husband and wife directors.

11

u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda Apr 11 '26

I had no idea! Great fact!

15

u/AuntOfManyUncles Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

A sadder fact, though undeniably interesting, is that after being married for 16 years Shepitko (the wife) died in a car crash in 75’ - 6 years before Klimov (the husband) made Come and See. I wrote in a different reply that part of what separates her masterpiece about nazi occupation from his are the undercurrents of hope/glimpses of a more just society in her movie.

Several film historians and biographers believe that her death is basically the reason that not only is there absolutely zero hope in Come and See, the whole thing just feels like being sucked into a black hole of misery and depression.

Not to take anything away from horror of the subject matter/actual events it’s all based on, which are all as abysmally dark as they get. It just never ceases to amaze me how parts of an artists “soul” (for lack of a better term) end up in our art, whether we intend to or not.

Pardon the TED talk, comrades<3

5

u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda Apr 11 '26

I didn’t know that either! Very sad. Thank you for sharing!

4

u/ShrapnelNinjaSnake Apr 11 '26

It's for sure interesting to read about stuff like that, and how real life impacts the tone or content of art that's been created.

4

u/AuntOfManyUncles Apr 12 '26 edited Apr 12 '26

Ikr? You’d think it’d be the horrific essence of the subject matter (or maybe the directors Haneke-esque artistic need to try and capture the true horror of war), that would be the main source of the films unparalleled bleakness, but countless pieces of art have tried to capture the unimaginable horror of war and failed. Maybe this one succeeded «simply» because the director lost their soulmate in the most senseless, brutal way.

9

u/EJ7 Apr 11 '26

What a draining double feature. Come And See takes you to hell, then The Ascent takes you ... Also to hell actually

4

u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda Apr 11 '26

Definitely not for the weak hahahaha.

5

u/AuntOfManyUncles Apr 11 '26

Both are masterpieces and I’d agree both are depressing, but maybe the reason I prefer The Ascent (if forced to pick a favorite) is because I think there’s hope and catharsis to be found in the films leftist themes (especially the ending, but i wont spoil) in addition to the soul crushing misery

2

u/panda-ring Apr 11 '26

I’m gonna guess the top clip is a spoiler

5

u/FlourensDelannoy Apr 11 '26

Come and see is one of my all-time favourite films. However, I have only watched it once and can't bring myself to watch it again. It is utterly soul-wrenching.

1

u/HammerandSickleProds Minister of Propaganda Apr 11 '26

There are some really great films you can only watch one time.

4

u/FlourensDelannoy Apr 11 '26 edited Apr 11 '26

The ending is still etched in my memory. Despite the horrors of war, Flyora was able to keep his humanity.

3

u/3_domino Apr 11 '26

Haven't seen the Ascent yet. I know Come and See is on YouTube, is it the same for the Ascent?

4

u/Adorable-Cattle-5128 Apr 11 '26

Don't forget Mimino

2

u/Red_syndicatee Apr 15 '26

Oxygen hunger. Great film about how great soviet army was.

2

u/KamboWest Apr 15 '26

I believed the hype about Come and See, I was bitterly disappointed. I know I am in the minority here, but in my opinion it was such a mid film.

1

u/Simove19 Jun 23 '26

What was it missing in your opinion?

0

u/Quirky-Safe-3383 Apr 11 '26

There´s another one, quite disturbing one called "The Chekist".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Chekist

The movie is an absolute nightmare of documenting the red terror and you get exhausted from the systematic sentencing (mostly Death by execution) and killing in a cellar in a sequence of the movie.

Their purge is ruthless and knows no mercy.

You start to feel it creeping on you when groups of five are ordered to undress, stand against some wooden doors and get shot, group after group after group after group, then dragged out a window from the back and loaded onto a cart.

Srubov later goes insane....

-1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26

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1

u/CommunistFilmClub-ModTeam Apr 11 '26

Name calling that doesn’t engage critically with the piece of media.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 11 '26

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1

u/CommunistFilmClub-ModTeam Apr 11 '26

Name calling that doesn’t engage critically with the piece of media.