By: Hayden Fitzsimons

The World Wars are a subject in film and media which has been done to death and beaten beyond recognition. However, within all of the schlock and reasonably good war movies, there is one particular film that stands above the rest. That film is the 1985 masterpiece, directed by Elem Klimov, ‘Come and See.’ Elem Klimov set out to depict war to the realest degree that he could, along with Belarusian cinematographer Aleksei Rodionov. Both experienced the Second World War firsthand, Rodionov in particular who fought against the Nazis whilst he was still a teen.

‘Come and See’ follows Florya, a young teen, as he excitedly joins the Russian revolution against the Nazis. Florya is left behind by the revolutionaries, and he is heartbroken. Florya returns to his village following an attack on the revolutionaries’ base with his newfound friend Glosha. When he returns to his village, Byelorussia, they find the village to be empty.

From this point forth, the film transforms from a somewhat tense and emotional romp to one of the darkest and realistic depictions of war to ever be made. The viewer accompanies Florya as he witnesses the pure evil of the Nazis, and their conspirators, against innocent men, women, and children.

Florya turns from a cheerful & optimistic child, who wants to do nothing more than fight for his people, to an aged and decrepit husk of his former self after watching all those around him die in extremely brutal fashion. Not only was what Florya saw some of the cruelest horrors one could see, they are all depictions of reality. All the events of massacre in the film were truly committed by the Nazi forces, and that is what makes the film absolutely destructive to one’s psyche.

However, the grueling and realistic story is not enough without the proper film elements to support it. Fortunately, ‘Come and See’ has masterful execution of every factor in film in spades. The cinematography, especially for being an 80s Russian movie, is top notch.

Head-on shots of characters are a repeated motif throughout the film. These shots have the characters often looking directly at the camera, and are an excellent way to dig into the viewer’s psyche as well as depict deep emotions without the need for dialogue.

The cinematography also includes views that are often behind the characters, as if they are constantly being stalked.

In addition to these, many of the shots are long, winding, tedious sequences that continually feed into the next shot after the next after the next. There are nearly no breaks, no moments of calm. It is a constant deluge of pain and suffering, with no end in sight.

The sound design is also incredible, rivaling that of many films which have come out decades later. This sound design accompanies incredibly with the long arduous shots at creating a film that feels intensely real and difficult to watch, yet still terribly hard to look away from.

‘Come and See’ is real. No, it doesn’t follow real characters or a real life story, however what happens in the film is still real. Innocent people were massacred in the millions by Nazi forces. Their methods of murder are real, and truly horrific. Everything presented in the film, the viewer knows to be true, even if it is just a fictional depiction.

Once all is said and done, there is still no resolution. No solace, no victory, no optimism, no release, nothing. ‘Come and See’ only lets the viewer feel pain, a pain they know to have been real.

I believe ‘Come and See’ is the best war movie to ever be made. This film should be seen by all, as it is one of the closest ways to see true evil without truly seeing it happen. However, the film is extremely brutal, intense, and realistic. It is not for the faint of heart, but it still is for everyone. ‘Come and See’ is a depiction of the true evil that lies within humanity. If we were to live in a world without pieces of art such as this film, we may then live in a world devoid of understanding, devoid of hope, and devoid of resistance to evil.

By: Teah Henry

Spoilers for ‘Supernatural’ below! 

On November 5th, the internet exploded. The election was happening, there were rumors Putin was resigning, and Destiel was confirmed canon. 

Destiel is the ship between the characters Dean and Castiel from the show ‘Supernatural’. Castiel was introduced as the angel that brought Dean out of Hell in season four. He was only supposed to be in a few episodes, but he quickly became a fan favorite and ended up sticking around until the show’s final fifteenth season. 

The reason the ship becoming canon is such a big deal is because ‘Supernatural’ has been notorious for queerbaiting. Queerbaiting is when a piece of media, usually T.V. shows, hint at their characters being LGBT+ without ever planning to make it explicitly clear whether they are or not. This is to attract queer audiences while also not upsetting more conservative fans.

Queerbaiting is not a good practice. It treats the LGBT+ community more as a spectacle than actual people who do exist, and it’s a pretty cruel trick to play on a community that rarely gets representation. 

‘Supernatural’ has been accused of queerbaiting due to their hinting at Dean being bisexual, and that him and Castiel have unresolved romantic feelings for each other. The hints are just enough so some viewers will pick up on it while others might not, and the fans that did pick up on it have been wanting ‘Supernatural’ to have their characters be openly queer so there’s more representation on screen. 

‘Supernatural’ has been losing fans throughout the years (mostly due to its long run and increasingly bad writing). A lot of previous fans had moved on by 2020, and gave up on the show making Dean bisexual or Destiel canon. Even Tumblr, which was known for being mostly used by fans of ‘Supernatural’, became less focused on the show and users moved on. 

However, on November 5th, the second to last episode of ‘Supernatural’ aired, and Castiel confessed to Dean that he loved him.

The internet went crazy.

Destiel was trending on Twitter, and Tumblr became full of Destiel posts. Many users joked that their dashboard was only posts about ‘Supernatural’.

Not only that, but after Castiel confessed, he was dragged to The Empty, deemed by fans as Mega Hell, which is where angels go when they die. Many people saw the homophobic implications of being sent to Hell after having a gay love confession. There was a small line in the finale that Castiel was dragged out of The Empty, and made it to Heaven, but we never see him again. 

Anyway, I don’t think we should praise this show for finally going through with their years of queerbaiting. The confession wasn’t even enough, many fans denied it was a love confession and claimed it was platonic.

Not only that, but Castiel doesn’t show up again for the last two episodes. Dean doesn’t even talk about him. He confesses his gay love, gets dragged to Hell, and then we never even hear Dean’s feelings on it. It’s not a victory for queer representation. 

Despite that, it was fun to be on the internet and witness all the reactions to Destiel becoming canon. I think ‘Supernatural’ has left a big footprint in internet history, and rests as a good example of what not to do with queer characters. 

By: Hayden Fitzsimons

‘Brothers’ is a 2009 film, by Jim Sheridan, starring Tobey Maguire, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Natalie Portman. ‘Brothers,’ as one may suspect, is a film about brothers Sam and Tommy played by Maguire and Gyllenhaal respectively. Sam is a respected marine returning to duty, whereas Tommy was just released from prison after serving for a robbery. In Sam’s absence, Tommy steps in to take care of Sam’s wife Grace, played by Natalie Portman, as well as their two daughters.

The film follows the arcs of all three characters, as both Tommy and Sam change drastically over the course of the film, almost in polar opposite directions.

Sam’s helicopter crashes whilst in Afghanistan, and he is presumed dead. This causes great unrest within the family, greater than there already was. However, Sam survives and is captured by the enemy.

Sam goes through severe hardships while captured, and it changes him nearly completely.

Meanwhile, Tommy and Sam’s family are getting far closer, and everything seems to be going well despite their belief of Sam’s passing.

To go further would likely spoil the film, so I’ll simply state that from here, the emotional turmoil is heightened even further.

Simply put, ‘Brothers’ is deeply emotional, as it follows the cruel effects of war and also the difficulty of family. Nearly every character in this film has their own unique arc which develops them into something they largely weren’t at the start. This heartbreaking writing is one of the film’s strongpoints.

Out of anything in the movie, dialogue, and the way that it is delivered, shines above. For the most part, it’s much of what the film has to offer.

Gyllenhaal and Maguire both deliver far above expectations even if they are both already known for their tear-jerking performances. Both actors complement each other perfectly and are able to bring out the best in one another in addition to Portman’s excellent performance. These performances are awe-inspiring and are the main focus of the film. This leads to the film feeling very natural, realistic, and touching.

However, while the writing and performances are top notch the rest of the film lags behind. Cinematography, score, and most other elements of film, apart from the two previously mentioned, are incredibly bland and/or lacking. The thing is, most viewers will not have a large problem with this, and the film does well enough solely through the acting’s power. Due to this imbalance ‘Brothers’ delivers on its intentions, however it feels held back. It’s almost as if there was much more to this film that wasn’t fleshed out and was simply glossed over.

In all, ‘Brothers’ is quite the good film with some legendary performances and with a riveting and stirring story. ‘Brothers’ reaches the point it most likely intended and would leave most, including myself, both satisfied with the film and emotionally affected.

For those more acquainted with film, ‘Brothers’ has much of the same effect, but is slightly disappointing as it just barely misses out at being an incredible film and has to unfortunately suffice with being a really good film, which most filmmakers would be more than happy to achieve.

By: Hayden Fitzsimons

‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is Charlie Kaufman’s latest directorial, as well as written, work, and it is, as the title suggests, weird. This is to be expected with Kaufman’s work, as the weird, dream-like, and ethereal style of his writing often becomes a main figure in his films.

This film however is particularly odd, even for a Kaufman film.

The dialogue, as usual, is masterfully written, yet almost feels as if it is a one-sided jumbled mess of thoughts, and it is intentionally done so. The cinematography is equally as odd and off putting, and yet in it’s own way strangely inviting and familiar. Once again, both of these are staples of Kaufman’s work.

‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ revolves around the relationship between Jake, played by Jesse Plemons, and Lucy, played by Jessie Buckley. Specifically, it focuses more so on Lucy’s thought of ending the relationship. However, there is clearly a connection between her and Jake, and so she is having difficulty ending the relationship.

The film takes place on a road trip through a blizzard to Jake’s childhood home to visit his parents. However, once they get there things become extremely unsettling and it seems as if multiple timelines are merging together. From here, the film continues to spiral and spiral into delusion until the viewer is ultimately left extremely confused and most likely also very pleased with the film.

The film is an extremely slow burn, once again, intentionally so. ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ lasts just over two hours, however, it feels as if it is four hours or longer. Normally, this would be detrimental to a film, however, in this film’s case it is the highest of compliments.

The world which Kaufman creates is so engrossing and atmospheric that it essentially doubles the length, complexity, and enjoyment of the film simply due to how mind-boggling it is. The length, or at least the perception of the length, could turn some people away from this film which I completely understand.

In addition to this, the film is extremely confusing from start to finish and after finishing the film, if any film were to require a second viewing, this would be the film. This confusion and practically necessary second viewing most likely will deter most viewers from ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things.’ This is an unfortunate issue which plagues many of Kaufman’s films as they are all deeply cerebral and often require deep thought into even the most basic of elements.

I highly recommend this film despite how hard it may be to consume for the average viewer. However, if you are looking to expand your tastes and your perspective on life and media, you will find a deeply emotional and atmospheric tale of regret, aging, time, and consumption as a society in ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ which will likely have a profound effect on your life in some way or another.

Since ‘I’m Thinking of Ending Things’ is a Netflix production, it’s likely readily available for your consumption, so please give it a shot.