Hot Docs: ASCENSION Review

Definitively proving that all the "B" Science Fiction of the 1950s and 1960s do not hold a candle to the 'real thing,' Pavel Medvedev's surreal 45 minute documentary Ascension is certainly one to look for. Composed entirely out of archival footage, much of it from the Soviet science and space archives, delicately scored and building to an undeniable mood of surreal (perhaps even ominous) energy, it charts (and re-purposed) the progress of man into to the unknown area of space exploration with a flair for creating art out film that was shot by scientists and engineers as a mundane record. Images of Russian canine and monkeys being trained (from centrifuge to launch) lead way to the initial rocket test launches and eventually extraterrestrial missions involving the first men and women in space. This is followed by NASA putting a man on the moon and eventually The Peoples Republic of China getting their own man out of the stratosphere. Curious bits of cultural footage, some featuring Chairman Mao, others featuring a moment or two of Russian life and enterprise of the era are sprinkled throughout the film to give contrast to the collective progress of Man's science. But there is a single sequence early on in the film that sold me on Medvedev's approach to 'mood-piece' film-making. It involves a snappy bit of populist entertainment featuring a sailor shrunk down and composited into the frame of a man playing the piano. Eventually the 5 centimeter high sailor starts tap-dancing and playing the piano before ripping his head off and peeling off his skin to reveal a robot framework underneath. Of course he never stops dancing and hammering at the ivories. It is a sublime snippet of showmanship that simultaneously evokes Stan Winston and Jan Švankmajer. Forget 2010, how is that for esprit de corps?

I do not know how or where something like Ascension will ever get distributed, but it is a crying shame if it is not allowed to turn into the cult item it so desperately deserves to be. Proof dreams are evoked from the merely the details of men following their dreams.