Voschoždenie

Belarus: winter 1942. A partisan unit, moving through the deep snow, is retreating from a German special anti-partisan commando. Among the partisans are women and children from the devastated villages: everyone is worn out und utterly exhausted. Two men – an experienced partisan called Rybak, and Sotnikow, a Soviet officer who broke through enemy lines to join the partisans after his own unit was surrounded – leave the group to procure provisions. (...)
The partisans have a chance encounter with the militia, who are collaborating with the Germans, and only manage to escape with great difficulty. They seek refuge in a farmhouse, where they are taken prisoner. They are interrogated and tortured, and have to live with the tormenting fear of certain death. (Berlinale Archive)