The Ascent (1977): The bleak experience of war — Movie Discussion

The crowning triumph of a career cut tragically short, the final film from Ukrainian director Larisa Shepitko 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 Belorussia. 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. (Criterion)

Though familiar, this is a fable re-created with an unabashed sense of grandeur as well as deeply touching humanity. (New York Times)

A remarkable piece of work, not least for being filmed in black-and-white against a vast, bleak expanse of snow. (Time Out)

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. (Los Angeles Times)

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Please watch the film in advance: https://youtu.be/VteY61FDhc8

It was recently voted the 72nd greatest movie of all time in Sight and Sound's prestigious international survey of movie directors.
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We all seek meaning in our lives and dread futility. Philosophy doesn't provide facile answers, but the philosophical quest to make sense of our fleeting lives is one that we all share.

This group explores answers by discussing not only philosophical writing, but also literature and film.

Check out other film discussions in the group every Friday and sometimes Mondays and Wednesdays.