fantastic russian wwii movie . like most russian wwii movie and the ascent be incredibly harrow . it also dense in it symbolism . the story follow two partisan and sotnikov and rybak ( boris plotnikov and vladimir gostyukhin ) and who go on a mission to search for food . on their trip and they be spot by german soldier and who wind sotnikov . sotnikov and in turn and kill one of the german and which lead to trouble for the two partisan and everyone else they later run into . the great success of the film be it vivid sense of place . russia be frozen and snowy and and it hard not to feel that cold go straight to your own bone . shepitko keep her shot close to the character and examine every crag of their face . it be probably not the choice and but the film be frame 1 . 33 represent1 and which give the film a sense of claustrophobia . while the entire film be quite an achievement and i do feel that the first half be strong than the second . my main complaint about the movie be that it develop into a very unsubtle christian allegory by it climax . i just do not think the symbolism add much to the proceeding and especially when i be already intrigue by the debate between the two partisan . it not quite fair . i be weigh the pro and con of their argument . i begin to lean toward the point of view of a certain character and and then the director pop up and tell me that he judas . despite some heavy handedness and this be still a must see .