The other night, someone I know and this blogger watched Laura Shepitko's 1977 Russian classic, The Ascent, which we had ordered from Netflix. It is a harrowing film, a WWII horror picture set in what seems to be the Ukraine or Belarus, full of Russian Orthodox religious symbolism, including shots that look like icons painted by Andrey Rublev, set in landscapes by Levitan (although in Black & White). Shepitko died at age 40, in a car accident, shortly after making this film. She was married to Elim Klimov, whose Come and See explored similar themes, in a less religious way....
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
The Ascent (1977)
The other night, someone I know and this blogger watched Laura Shepitko's 1977 Russian classic, The Ascent, which we had ordered from Netflix. It is a harrowing film, a WWII horror picture set in what seems to be the Ukraine or Belarus, full of Russian Orthodox religious symbolism, including shots that look like icons painted by Andrey Rublev, set in landscapes by Levitan (although in Black & White). Shepitko died at age 40, in a car accident, shortly after making this film. She was married to Elim Klimov, whose Come and See explored similar themes, in a less religious way....