Looking for the name of a film about a boy and partisans in WW II

July 12, 2021 1:06 PM

'Foreign' film - not English, maybe Russian - Brief plot overview - the film starts with the young boy walking around his village traumatised while German soldiers kill villagers. Joins partisan band and film traces his story.

When he joins the partisans he is treated as a boy, which he is. At some point late in the film he is given a weapon and near the end of the film the partisans attack German soldiers, and among the material the Germans had are photos of Hitler. The boy points his rifle at the photo on the ground. Slowly the photo changes until we see Hitler as a baby in the photo.

The boy/man shoulders his weapon and marches on with band of partisans.

posted by Quillcards to Media & Arts (7 answers total)

Best answer: Is it Come And See?
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 1:12 PM on July 12, 2021 [4 favorites]

Best answer: I think that's Come and See, which is on my list of Best Films I Will Never, Ever Watch Again
posted by theodolite at 1:13 PM on July 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

Best answer: Definitely Come and See. An astonishing, hallucinatory film and a very difficult watch.
posted by Happy Dave at 1:15 PM on July 12, 2021 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Woah! Thank you and thank you again - all three answers.
posted by Quillcards at 1:42 PM on July 12, 2021

At some point late in the film he is given a weapon

Actually, the beginning of the film is his acquisition of the weapon. Without one, the partisans wouldn't let him join.
posted by Rash at 2:37 PM on July 12, 2021

Go and see, definitely, but I also would like to mention Tarkovski’s Ivan’s Childhood
posted by slimeline at 3:38 PM on July 12, 2021 [1 favorite]

As everyone already said, it's "Come and See" -- but an interesting fact about the film is, its original title was supposed to be "To Kill Hitler"
posted by virve at 10:48 PM on July 13, 2021