The Ascent

Voskhozhdeniye

Soviet Union

1976

111 Min

Black and White

1.33:1

Russian

Currently 4.4/5 Stars.
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SCR Larisa Shepitko, Yuri Klepikov

DP Vladimir Chukhnov, Pavel Lebeshev

CAST Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergei Yakovlev, Lyudmila Polyakova, Victoria Goldentul, Anatoli Solonitsyn, Nikolay Sektimenko

Berlinale (Competition): Golden Berlin Bear, FIPRESCI Prize, Interfilm Award - Special Mention, OCIC Award, Berlinale (Retrospective), Berlinale (Retrospective), Telluride, Transilvania (Special screening)

Synopsis

Shepitko’s emotionally overwhelming final film won the Golden Bear at the 1977 Berlin Film Festival and has been hailed around the world as the finest Soviet film of its decade. Set during World War II’s darkest days, The Ascent follows the path of two peasant soldiers, cut off from their troop, who trudge through the snowy backwoods of Belarus seeking refuge among villagers. Their harrowing trek leads them on a journey of betrayal, heroism, and ultimate transcendence. —The Criterion Collection

Director

Larisa Shepitko

After studying in the workshop of Dovchenko and Romm, Shepitko graduated from VGIK in 1963. After an impressive diploma work (Heat) she directed Wings, a complex character study that eschewed cliche to depict the emotional gap that develops between a proud, professional woman and her estranged daughter. Though praised by critics, Wings received only a limited release by Soviet authorities. Her next project was a short film for the omnibus Beginning of an Unknown Era called “Homeland of Electricity”. Produced by Mosfilm’s ill-fated Experimental Studio, it was shelved by censors and wasn’t released until after Shepitko’s death. The high point of her career came with Ascent, which won the Golden Bear at Venice in 1977. After dying in a tragic accident in 1979, her final project, Farewell, was completed by her husband, Elem Klimov, using her script. —Seagull Films

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redux

25Feb13

Not exactly as good as its reputation. The story is excellent, but the directing stays in the area of predictable, and some of the acting is anticlimactically mediocre.

Ciprian David

16Jan13

It feels like ages since I saw such beautiful images, crisp and mist in one, and wonderfully drawn in a desolate white landscape. I keep thinking back a the simple yet in its flexibility so complex structure of the film, at the energy it finds in depicting conscience and humanity as if they were a couple dancing.

Boris Nelepo likes this

Ciprian David

16Jan13

note: the tracking shot in the woods*

Ciprian David

15Jan13

wow, still have to pull myself together!

Graveyard Poet

13Jan13

Set in perhaps the bleakest wintry landscape in the history of cinema, this is a harrowing, haunting, and heart-wrenching exploration of war, impending death, and the meaning of conscience. Stunningly powerful and overwhelmingly intense experience--left me speechless.

Ciprian David likes this