In 1977 Larisa Shepitko directed her last film and one of the great masterpieces of Soviet cinema. The Ascent, based on the novel Sotnikov by Vasil Bykovfollows, follows two soldiers, Rybak and Sotnikov, during the Second World War, who seek refuge among the villagers in the Nazi-occupied Belorussia. Their difficult journey through the infinite snow is a reflection on what it means to be human in the midst of war.