The Ascent ("Voskhozhdeniye")

Director: Larissa Shepitko

Starring: Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Anatoli Solonitsyn
Year: 1977

A band of starving Soviet partisans are wandering through the woods in Nazi-occupied territory during WWII. Two of the group are sent to a nearby village to find food only to be captured by the Nazis along with a peasant woman who tried to save them. Their subsequent interrogation and their ultimate fates reveal much about their souls.

Comments: This was Shepitko's last film before her premature death in a car accident at the age of 42. The movie was banned during the Soviet era, probably because of its heavy religious overtones. It is a Soviet version of the Passion Play, with Sotnikov (played by Boris Plotnikov) as a Jesus figure who is condemned to death by his Nazi-sympathizer interrogator (played by Solonitsyn), and Rybak as his Judas who betrays his comrades by agreeing to become a Nazi policeman in order to save his life. Aside from the incredible acting performances, the moral dilemma it raises, Shepitko's cinematography is intense from beginning to end.

Recommended.