Some war movies are adventure films – and we all love them. The Great Escape, Where Eagles Dare, Von Ryan’s Express.
Others astound us with the techniques of modern film-making, rendering elements of war viscerally realistic, but remain within the conventions of adventure war films (Saving Private Ryan) or introduce unnecessary parameters apparently to heighten tension, such as the use of the last minutes of the war in the recent remake of All Quiet on the Western Front.
But there is a genre of war film which does not flinch from the horror and what war does to people. One of those is The Ascent (1977), which was made by Ukrainian Soviet-era director Larisa Shepitko.
It’s set during the German occupation of the Soviet Union – and is therefore not for the faint-hearted.
It’s grim, poetic, mesmerising; and features one of cinema’s best interrogation scenes.
Shepitko builds tension slowly; depicts agony and shame; takes us on a journey which we’re not sure we want to take.
And she packs the frame with wonderful faces.
The film is a precursor to Come and See which Shepitko’s husband, Elem Klimov, would later make.
Sadly, Shepitko died tragically young, aged 41, in a road accident, long before the break-up of the Soviet Union and before she would have a greater chance to have her work appreciated by an international audience.
The Ascent is on Amazon Prime and You Tube.
Greg Lewis 
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