Ascent Blu-ray

'The Ascent' Director: Larisa Shepitko (1977) Criterion Collection Blu-ray | 4K restoration | Russian w/ English subtitles

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 Belarus. When they fall into the hands of German forces, each must choose between martyrdom and betrayal.

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.

Special features include:
- Selected-scene commentary featuring film scholar Daniel Bird
- Introduction by Anton Klimov, son of director Larisa Shepitko and filmmaker Elem Klimov
- Interview with actor Lyudmila Polyakova
- The Homeland of Electricity (1967) short by Shepitko
- Larisa (1980) posthumous short film tribute to Shepitko made by her husband, Elem Klimov
- Two documentaries from 2012 about Shepitko
- Program from 1999 featuring interview with Shepitko
- Essay by poet Fanny Howe