Larisa Shepitko (1939-1979) was one of the few women directors to achieve notability in Soviet-era Russian cinema, even though she only made four features (Shepitko died in a car crash at the age of 40). Two of her films—Wings (1966) and The Ascent (1977)—are paired here in the 11th boxed set in Criterion's extra-less Eclipse line. Wings focuses on a middle-aged headmistress who was a decorated Soviet Air Force fighter pilot in World War II. Unable to move past her heady experience of wartime glory, she struggles to come to terms with a seemingly quotidian existence. The Ascent, also set during WWII, revolves around two Russian soldiers in occupied Belarus who face physical and psychological torture at the hands of their Nazi captors. Both films, shot in crisp b&w, plumb the depths of human experience shaped by war—with the former pilot clinging to her distant past adventures, and the imprisoned soldiers struggling to stay alive. While Wings is a touching (if glum) offering that adheres to conventional Soviet-style drama, The Ascent, which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin International Film Festival, is a bold endeavor that is genuinely startling in its blatant use of Christian symbolism in the framing of key scenes (how this made it past the Soviet censors is a bit of a mystery). Recommended. (P. Hall)
Larisa Shepitko
Criterion, 2 discs, 194 min., in Russian w/English subtitles, not rated, DVD: $29.95 Volume 23, Issue 6
Larisa Shepitko
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