The Ascent

Original title: Voskhozhdenie

1977
1h 51m

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

11K

YOUR RATING

Viktoriya Goldentul, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Boris Plotnikov, Lyudmila Polyakova, and Sergey Yakovlev in The Ascent (1977)

Play trailer3:41

2 Videos

58 Photos

Drama War

Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.Two Soviet partisans on a mission to gather food contend with the winter cold, the occupying Germans, and their own psyches.

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

8.2/10

11K

YOUR RATING

See production info at IMDbPro

Awards
- 4 wins total

Trivia
Official submission of Soviet Union for the 'Best Foreign Language Film' category of the 50th Academy Awards in 1978.

Quotes
Sotnikov: [Imprisoned, Sotnikov and Rybak are arguing whether to speak with Germans or not] We're soldiers. Soldiers. Don't crawl in shit. You'll never wash it off.
Rybak: So then, to the grave - to feed the worms. Right?
Sotnikov: That's not the worst that could happen. No. That's not what I'm talking about. Now I understand. I understand. The important thing is to be true to yourself.
Rybak: Fool! You're a fool, Sotnikov. You graduated from the institute for nothing. I want to live! To live! To kill those bastards! Understand? I'm the soldier. And you're a corpse. All you've got left is your stubbornness - your principles!
Sotnikov: Then go, go on living - without a conscience. It can be done.

Connections
Featured in Women Make Film: A New Road Movie Through Cinema (2018)

User reviews54

Review

Featured review

8/10

Bleak, emotionally crushing, beautiful

Is one's life the most valuable thing one can possess? Are all ideals and philosophies mere fallacy, not worth sacrificing one's life for? These are the questions this film touches upon. And does so brilliantly.

By today's standards, the film might be viewed as somewhat slow-paced and indeed, without giving too much away, certain scenes are a bit stretched out and in my opinion, could have been made shorter for stronger emotional impact. Nonetheless, the amazing performance by all the main actors kept me glued to the screen most of the time. The hopelessness and the terror of war, intensified by the unforgiving Russian winter, permeates the film from start to finish.

The film presents us with food for thought not covered much by modern cinema, touching upon something that isn't often discussed openly in modern society. We avoid it because it lurks inside each of us and we fear it - venality and betrayal in face of death.

Our life is everything we know - the entire world ends with it, as Portnov, the Nazi interrogator says in the film. Would YOU sacrifice it for something? For anything? This film will force you to ponder this question and reflect on your values and yourself as a human being.