Eclipse Series 11: Larisa Shepitko (Wings / The Ascent) (The Criterion Collection) [DVD]

Visually stunning, dramatically shocking this superbly acted film shows a unique and compassionate underlying chemistry between two soldiers that develops into more than just your average war buddies only to be quelled by sadistic, evil Nazis. The ending will leave you stunned for days.

Larisa Shepitko is a true genius within the Soviet-era film establishment, and Wings remain one of my favorite films.

Thank you so much! Excellent item !

While both films are incredible, they are quite different from each other, and that is why this package is so wonderful. Transfers are splendid (although slight edge enhancement with all the snow scenes in Ascent but nothing distracting). Such a treat!

Great box set at an affordable price! Key addition to the eclipse collection.

Shepitko is truly a master. I wish her entire corpus were available in such a high quality rendering but I'm grateful to Criterion for once again reintroducing a forgotten master to a new audience eager for high quality work.

My "Wings" haiku reviewLife. Now? Headmistress."Soviet Hero - let's push!"Can't go back? Perhaps....My "The Ascent" haiku review:Partisan food hunt.Who's the loyal one, really?"Jah-wohl" for new boss.

Movies of Larisa Shepit'ko are not for entertiment. We have to understand simple principles of life and try follow them.

Until recently I had not even heard of Larisa Shepitko, by chance I came across one of her movies online, and I must say both these movies " Wings" & " The Ascent ", are hidden gems, it's a shame Shepitko's life was tragedically cut short in a car crash in 1979, aged only 41. Her movies are on parr with anything that comes out of Hollywood and I am amazed at the talent there was / is in the Soviet Union/Russia, and I hope they will be converted to Blu-ray Disc in the near future...Brilliant acting on both movies I will not give anything away other then to implore you to purchase this dvd and watch both movies, this will be an experience that will stir your soul & stay with you for a very long time..

The release on DVD of these two films from Larisa Shepitko allows us a chance-finally-to see two masterpieces from a director who, sadly since her death in 1979, has been all but forgotten. As the reviewer above notes, the Ascent deserves to be remembered among the very best films to come out of Russia. It is a beautifully shot, cinematic and poignant film that tells the story of the relationship between two partisan comrades and their fate after capture. Shepitko's use of religious symbolism and iconography is, in my view, as interesting and powerful as her contemporary Tarkovsky. I would agree that The Ascent is the better of the two films, but Wings should not be overlooked. Made in 1966, the film might be read as a tribute to Russia's (also largely overlooked) female combatants in WW2. Made during a particularly fruitful period for dissident film-makers, the film is also both an insightful comment on the fate of many a female party apparatchik, documenting the difficult relationship between the main protagnonist and her daughter, for example, but also a not so subtle critique of the lives of most women in a still profoundly patriarchal society some 50 years after the revolution. An important film then and one that is also blessed with some lovely cinematic moments, as Nadya escapes from the hemmed in constraints of civilian life, into the life of the mind and imagination and the freedom of the open skies.

Amazing!