Both films have their place. Come and See is on a grander scale, and the physical effects on the kid are brilliantly pulled off. Tarkovsky's film is more subtle but is equally wearing on the psyche of the kid. By the end of the film, one kid is dead and the other ruined. War'll do that.
Well it left me with a profound sense of loss, there aren't a lot of films that can horrify me as that film has (Eraserhead is about the only one that comes to mind), but I felt like my eyes had been raped.
The real, graphic animal cruelty, the war crimes exhibited in such a realistic fashion and the nightmarish surrealism all horrify effected me for the entire subsequent week. Rather then giving a nice anti-war statement which stayed within conventionality such as Platoon, it gave a horrific vision of the atrocities.
Sure war is horrible and not nice to look at, but that film was just too much for me. I wasn't up for what went to exhibit in that film.
Come and See. The things you hated about it were the things that make it almost perfect to me (minus the animal cruelty, obviously). It’s a horrifying experience, but that’s what makes it probably the most effective anti-war film ever.
To watch a war film and then say "I did not like it, it was too much like a real war" is a nonsensical argument. When you put on a war film what do you expect? People in bunny suits sucking each other off while whistling Dixie?
To criticize the greatest war film because it actually succeeds in conveying what it intended is ridiculous.
Stick to The Wedding Singer, Transformers and Big Momma's House. Sounds more your speed.