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The Ascent (1977)
Voskhozhdenie (original title)
Director: Larisa Shepitko
Writers: Vasiliy Bykov (novel), Yuri Klepikov (screenplay)
Cast: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergey Yakovlev
Genre: Drama, War
Language: Russian
Damn the struggle the Soviet soldiers and partisan went through was horrific. The stark black and white photography made the film feel all the more cold and hopeless.
I liked the way we follow just the two soldiers around. There's no back story, none is needed. There's no love interest or secondary story lines, none is needed. There's just the cold brutality of war and the choices one has to make. This reminded me of an English language film about Soviet partisans in WWII, which was also powerful but unfortunately I can't remember what it was called.
I thought the cinematography was amazing for the subject matter as it was both simple and effective. There's no artsy shots that I recall, but...the shots were very effective and contributed to the emotions of the scene. So I would call that amazing cinematography.
My favorite shot (or I should say the shot that had they biggest visual impact on me) was the long, slow march up the hill to the scaffolding to be hung. Damn! the long shot down from behind really such in the reality of the moment. That didn't look like a movie, that looked frightfully real.
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Voskhozhdenie (original title)
Director: Larisa Shepitko
Writers: Vasiliy Bykov (novel), Yuri Klepikov (screenplay)
Cast: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergey Yakovlev
Genre: Drama, War
Language: Russian
During a brutal Russian winter in World War II on the Eastern Front, two Soviet partisan fighters trek cross country to find food for themselves and their starving comrades, what they find is nothing but misery. CR
I liked this! It was very focus on the human cost of the Soviet Union's struggle with Nazi Germany in WWII. What's great about this is, it's a very personal movie, it really makes you feel like you are there....and, you sure in the hell don't want to be there! Damn the struggle the Soviet soldiers and partisan went through was horrific. The stark black and white photography made the film feel all the more cold and hopeless.
I liked the way we follow just the two soldiers around. There's no back story, none is needed. There's no love interest or secondary story lines, none is needed. There's just the cold brutality of war and the choices one has to make. This reminded me of an English language film about Soviet partisans in WWII, which was also powerful but unfortunately I can't remember what it was called.
I thought the cinematography was amazing for the subject matter as it was both simple and effective. There's no artsy shots that I recall, but...the shots were very effective and contributed to the emotions of the scene. So I would call that amazing cinematography.
My favorite shot (or I should say the shot that had they biggest visual impact on me) was the long, slow march up the hill to the scaffolding to be hung. Damn! the long shot down from behind really such in the reality of the moment. That didn't look like a movie, that looked frightfully real.
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