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I'll tell you why so serious

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

The acting in this movie is really good.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

Larisa Shepitko's final completed film is one of the most intense movies that I've ever seen. "Voskhozhdenie" ("The Ascent" in English) looks at a pair of Soviet troops who take refuge in a widow's home during WWII, only to see a German platoon enter and arrest them and the widow (leaving the children).I understand that the movie's depiction of martyrdom owes a lot to Christian iconography. I wouldn't notice that. What's important to remember is that the Soviet Union got hit the hardest in World War II. Not only did the country lose over 20 million people fighting the Nazis, but we have here a woman who probably wanted to have nothing to do with the war but she got dragged into it. This probably happened multiple times, and might still be happening.I wholeheartedly recommend the movie.

Since the fall of the Soviet Union, we listened to the second world war from the United States.But Soviet Union where lost millions of people is changed the fate of the war.This is a reminding. So if you bored this 'America, hero of the the world' , this production could be good beginning for you. Now if we turn our film, this is really explain conflict between devotion and betrayal.Besides miserable conditions of peasants who had to struggle with Nazis, cold and hunger... There isn't exaggeration, unnecessary extensions.Russian films which have simplicity and the fact, the film has it. Especially poignant end of the film, description of human dignity that we lost nowadays demonstratively are drawn.

If you have a chance, see this Russian(how should I call them: gems, masterpieces,hidden treasures?), war movies like this one, or The dawns here are quiet, or Proverka na dorogah... And , right after that, watch again the American war movies, or the international productions, those one with the allies and the Germans,etc. Or, even worse, watch the Italian war movies. Everything from the west will seem shallow, contrived, ridiculous, in comparison with the Russian movies. I am sooooo stunned by the quality of the aforementioned Russian war movies that I cannot find the words to praise enough their shattering superiority over Anglo-Saxon war movies.

THE ASCENT is a very worthwhile addition to recent re-releases from the Soviet Union. Director Larisa Shepitko's 1977 film examines the moral ramifications of allegiance and honor in German occupied Russia during The Second World War. On foot and in a blizzard, two members of a partisan Soviet group leave to locate supplies, and are captured by Nazi soldiers. The focus of the movie is on how each man handles or internalizes his moral alternatives. One chooses dignity and integrity, while the other opts for collaboration with the enemy. However, in the end, he cannot abide by his selfish decision. The film makes much use of slow, wide-angle pans which shift to extreme closeups, and highlight the spiritual quandary within the souls of each man. This is not a great film, but it does effectively portray an intense moral dilemma against the backdrop of a harsh and frigid Soviet wilderness.