He even endures the torture silently like Jesus Christ. He, under no circumstances, would succumb to the life-threatening schemes. This is very early established after he instinctively draws his rifle to shoot himself when he sees himself getting caught by the German soldiers. He is loyal to his cause and the country. Sotnikov (Boris Plotnikov) chooses to sacrifice himself rather than cooperate with the Germans. When faced with a burdensome decision: whether or not to collaborate with the Germans, their limits of human endurance is put to the test. The two Russian partisans, dichotomous in nature, becomes the subject to examine what the film-maker calls, “the spirituality of the Soviet man.” Sheptiko extensively uses Christian motifs in her film to draw political significance and the individual’s internal conflict. The film gradually descends into a layered exploration of complex existential issues with regard to the purpose of human existence. However, after their capture, the plot thickens like coal-tar as religious symbolism, politics of war and ethical dilemma are slyly slipped into the narrative. In the first act, The Ascent appears to have a straightforward, singular narrative about two Russian partisans captured by the Germans during the Second World War. That’s the reason the moral conundrum which seems deceptively so clear and tangible, and yet it unfurls with a wonderful ambiguity that would push anyone to put themselves in the characters’ shoes. She described the period, ‘a long journey into myself.’ Her near-death experience sets the profound chain of thoughts about life & death, and everything that falls between it. Shepitko channelizes her morbid thoughts and emotions from her seven months hospitalization during 1973 after she fell and suffered concussion and damage to her spine. Set during World War II, shot on grainy black and white stock, the film looks like a product of its setting than the time itself, and that factor renders even more believability to the grim events unfolding in it. Through the showcase of psychological and the very physical toll of war on the characters’ conscience, Shepitko bestows a heavy burden on us. Shepitko avoids the usual gruesome battle sequences and the displays of gallantry to settle for an intimate exploration abetted by the minimalistic setting. It’s the last film of Larisa Shepitko, one of the most significant Russian filmmakers and largely unheralded in world cinema, who perished in an accident. Largely unheard even amongst the avid cinephiles, receded into limbo, and overshadowed by another Russian anti-war drama ‘Come & See’, ‘The Ascent’ is a multifaceted character study of individuals caught in the middle of war & the war within.
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