Eclipse Series 11/Spine #1063: LARISA SHEPITKO: SHEPITKO, Larisa: The Ascent (1977)

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SHEPITKO, Larisa [Soviet Union]
The Ascent [1977]
Eclipse Series 11/Spine #1063
DVD/Blu-ray


2008 Synopsis

Larisa Shepitko's emotionally overwhelming final work 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 Byelorussian peasant soldiers who, cut off from their troop, trudge through snowy backwoods seeking refuge among villagers. Their harrowing trek leads them on a journey of betrayal, heroism, and ultimate transcendence.

2021 Synopsis

The crowning triumph of a career cut tragically short, Larisa Shepitko's final film won the Golden Bear at the 1977 Berlin Film Festival and went on to be hailed as one of the finest works of late-Soviet cinema. In the darkest days of World War II, two partisans set out for supplies to sustain their beleaguered outfit, braving the blizzard-swept landscape of Nazi-occupied Belarus. When they fall into the hands of German forces and come face-to-face with death, each must choose between martyrdom and betrayal, in a spiritual ordeal that lifts the film's earthy drama to the plane of religious allegory. With stark, visceral cinematography that pits blinding white snow against pitch-black despair, The Ascent finds poetry and transcendence in the harrowing trials of war.

109 minutes
Black & White
Monaural
in Russian
1:33:1 aspect ratio
Criterion Release 2008/2021
Director/Writers


Based on the novella Sotnikov by Vasil Bykov.
Screenplay by Yuri Klepikov and Larisa Shepitko.
Shepitko was 39 when she directed The Ascent.

Other Shepitko films in the Collection:

Eclipse Series 11: Wings (1966)

The Film

A

Film Rating (0-60):

40

The Extras

The Booklet

Twelve-page wraparound featuring an essay by poet Fanny Howe.

Commentary

Selected-scene featuring film scholar Daniel Bird.

Introduction

By Anton Klimov, son of director Shepitko and filmmaker Elem Klimov.

Interview

With actor Polyakova.

Short film

The Homeland of Electricity from 1967 by Shepitko.

Larisa

A 1980 short film tribute to Shepitko made after her death by her husband, Elem Klimov.

Two documentaries

From 2012 about Shepitko

Program

From 1999 featuring an interview with Shepitko.

Extras Rating (0-40):

40

60 + 39 =

99

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