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The Ascent
Directed by
Larisa Shepitko
1977
1h 49m
Drama
,
War
,
and more
8.2
100%
91%
7.8
Add to Watchlist
Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.
More
Where to Watch The Ascent
Criterion Channel
Subscription
Amazon Video
Buy $19.99
Apple TV
Buy $14.99
+2 more
Cast of The Ascent
Boris Plotnikov
Sotnikov
Vladimir Gostyukhin
Rybak
Anatoliy Solonitsyn
Portnov, collaborationist interrogator
Lyudmila Polyakova
Avginya Demchikha, the mother
Viktoriya Goldentul
Basya Meyer, the girl
Sergei Yakovlev
Petr Sych, village elder
Mariya Vinogradova
Village elder's wife
Mykola Sektymenko
Stas Gomenyuk, collaborationist policeman
Leonid Yukhin
Partisan commander
Aleksandr Zvenigorskiy
German officer
Vladimir Rudyy
German officer with black glasses
Anatoli Chebotaryov
German officer with glasses
Vasili Kravtsov
German officer
Vladimir Tkalich
German officer
Aleksandr Pyatkov
German soldier, executioner
Sergey Yurtaykin
Cart driver
Igor Bezyaev
Soviet partisan
Stanislav Borodokin
Soviet partisan
Stanislav Zhitaryov
Soviet partisan
Vadim Gusev
Soviet partisan
The Ascent Ratings & Reviews
Chicago Reader
Kat Sachs
Ascent shows a very different form of fear, one that is raw and galling.
48 Hills
Dennis Harvey
...a scarring B&W anti-war drama worthy of comparison to her husband Elem Klimov's later Come and See...
InSession Film
Brian Susbielles
Shepitko etched her name in cinema glory for this achievement.
RogerEbert.com
Wael Khairy
Shepitko's film is less interested in presenting a simplistic anti-war message and aims for something higher, spiritual transcendence.
New York Times
Jennifer Dunning
Though familiar, this is a fable re-created with an unabashed sense of grandeur as well as deeply touching humanity.
Los Angeles Times
Linda Gross
Shepitko excels in conveying physical hardships and evoking a strong sense of locale. The foreboding landscape and the harsh physicality reflect the film's hard unflinching morality.
San Francisco Examiner
Walter V. Addiego
I hope that preconceptions about films from the Soviet Union won't deter audiences from seeing The Ascent, a beautiful and humane story, sensitively directed by... Larissa Shepitko, about Russian partisans in the second World War.
Chicago Reader
Fred Camper
The film is less a spiritual tract than a relentlessly physical document: the snow, ice, and mud of Shepitko's landscapes are the primary characters in the story.
Slant Magazine
Derek Smith
Larisa Shepitko's final film before her untimely death at 41, The Ascent is a lyrical evocation of the costs of moral and spiritual fortitude in times of great despair.
Film Inquiry
Owen Butler
Larisa Shepitko's 1977 film The Ascent remains a crowning achievement like no other.
The Young Folks
Nathanael Hood
A film of uncommon power and even more uncommon brilliance.
Under the Radar
Jason Wilson
The Ascent is hardly an easy watch, but it is an essential one for anyone interested in war cinema.
RogerEbert.com
Glenn Kenny
This story of a couple of partisans trapped by German occupiers of a village is spiritually harrowing and visually stunning.
Q Network Film Desk
James Kendrick
The freezing cold is its own character in The Ascent, and it wraps itself around everything, adding to the film's unique balance of realism and mystical lyricism.
Backseat Mafia
Rob Aldam
A masterfully crafted tale of guilt, bravery, endurance and deceit.
Film Frenzy
Matt Brunson
The Christian allegories aren't exactly subtle, but they are effective.
Boulder Weekly
Michael J. Casey
A bona fide masterpiece.
Cinemaphile.org
David Keyes
A revelation. It calls to us from an unmitigated stasis that sees the act of war as the consequence of dangerous movements colliding inwards on each other.
East Bay Express
Kelly Vance
The scenario's religious overtones notwithstanding, its brutal realism is overwhelming.
Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews
Dennis Schwartz
Shepitko's chilling and emotionally gripping WWII psychological drama.
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