The Ascent

Dir. Larisa Shepitko. 1977, 111 mins. USSR. DCP. With Boris Plotnikov, Vladimir Gostyukhin, Sergei Yakovlev, Lyudmila Polyakova, Anatoli Solonitsyn. Against the harsh, snow-choked, wind-swept backdrop of Nazi-occupied Belorussia, a pair of Soviet partisans find themselves separated from their troop and thrust into a fight for survival against both the enemy and the elements. Larisa Shepitko, who studied under fellow Ukrainian Alexander Dovzhenko at Moscow’s Gerasimov Institute of Cinematography (alongside fellow student Andrei Tarkovsky) was one of the most thrillingly original voices of her generation of Soviet filmmakers, though her career was cut short by her death at age 41. The Ascent is the ultimate statement of her astonishing talent, a work of visceral physicality and spiritual allegory that turns the World War II battlefield into a site of exhilarating and terrifying martyrdom. 

Tickets: $17.50 / $12 senior and students / $10 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). There is a $1.50 transaction fee per ticket for all online purchases. The cost of admission may be applied toward a same-day purchase of a membership. 

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