DramaWar

The Ascent

Two Soviet partisans leave their starving band to get supplies from a nearby farm. The Germans have reached the farm first, so the pair must go on a journey deep into occupied territory, a voyage that will also take them deep into their souls.

Release Date : 1977-04-02

Language :GermanRussian

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : MosfilmTretye Tvorcheskoe Obyedinenie

Production Country : Soviet Union

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Character Name : Борис Андреевич Сотников (озв. Александр Демьяненко)

Original Name : Борис Плотников

Gender : Male

Character Name : Коля Рыбак

Original Name : Владимир Гостюхин

Gender : Male

Character Name : Пётр Сыч, староста

Original Name : Сергей Яковлев

Gender : Male

Character Name : Авгинья Демчиха

Original Name : Людмила Полякова

Gender : Female

Character Name : Бася

Original Name : Viktoriya Goldentul

Gender : Female

Character Name : Павел Гаврилович Портнов, следователь у фашистов

Original Name : Анатолий Солоницын

Gender : Male

Character Name : старостиха

Original Name : Мария Виноградова

Gender : Female

Character Name : Стась Гоменюк, полицай

Original Name : Николай Сектименко

Gender : Male

Character Name : командир партизанского отряда

Original Name : Леонид Юхин

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер

Original Name : Александр Звенигорский

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер в чёрных очках

Original Name : Владимир Рудый

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер в очках

Original Name : Анатолий Чеботарёв

Gender : Male

Character Name : партизан

Original Name : Ігор Безяєв

Gender : Male

Character Name : партизан

Original Name : Станислав Бородокин

Gender : Male

Character Name : крестьянка

Original Name : Галина Булкина

Gender : Female

Character Name : партизан

Original Name : Vadim Gusev

Gender : Male

Character Name : партизан

Original Name : Stanislav Zhitarev

Gender : Male

Character Name : Матюшенко. партизан

Original Name : Gennadi Nenashev

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер

Original Name : Василий Кравцов

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий солдат, палач

Original Name : Александр Пятков

Gender : Male

Character Name : пособник фашистов

Original Name : Михаил Селютин

Gender : Male

Character Name : полицай

Original Name : В. Соколов

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер

Original Name : Владимир Ткалич

Gender : Male

Character Name : партизанка с ребёнком

Original Name : Александра Харитонова

Gender : Female

Character Name : возница

Original Name : Сергей Юртайкин

Gender : Male

Character Name : эпизод

Original Name : Николай Смирнов

Gender : Male

Character Name : мальчик в будёновке

Original Name : Sergei Kanishchev

Gender : Male

Character Name : эпизод

Original Name : Vladimir Sukhorebry

Gender : Male

Character Name : эпизод

Original Name : Николай Гагарин

Gender : Male

Character Name : эпизод

Original Name : Сергей Фёдоров

Gender : Male

Character Name : немецкий офицер (нет в титрах)

Original Name : Евгений Марков

Gender : Male

Reviews

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-12-15

This starts and finishes with the same shot - a freezing cold snowscape peppered with a few telegraph poles amidst a wilderness that the Soviet population were prepared to to die to protect from the invading Nazis. Two Red Army partisans are doing their best to frustrate their enemy whilst combating the brutality of the terrain and the climate. "Sotnikov" (Boris Plotnikov) and "Rybak" (Vladimir Gostyukhin) are out foraging for food when they encounter some sheep and then themselves become the hunted as a patrol chases them to a remote farmhouse and thence conveys them to a prison. It's here that these two men must face the truly evil police investigator "Portnov" (a spine-shivering contribution from Anatoly Solonitsyn) who tries to convince each man to tell what they know of their colleagues. The now injured "Sotnikov" has a proud and determined stoicism that he's prepared to take to the grave; his friend is a touch more pragmatic than him but both have consciences to wrestle with about not just their own lives, but those of others caught up in their fight for freedom. There's something very striking about Plotnikov here - it reminded me in many ways of Jeffrey Hunter in "King of Kings" (1961) - those piercing eyes and an almost celestial bearing as the photography focussed on a face that seemed to be able to project itself as a vision of something holy, better, virtuous. Indeed, the last twenty minutes or so have something of the Calgary to them that resonate really quite poignantly. The supporting cast, and a really quite provocative effort from Gostyukhin, also add a layer of characterful richness to a tale that questions just what people might be prepared to do to preserve their own, and/or other, lives. Is it braver to die for the cause or to compromise, maybe even collaborate, survive and fight another day? It's a cold film from start to finish and well worth a watch.