Two films by the well-known cinematic couple Larisa Shepitkoand Elem Klimov are analyzed. Both “The Ascent” and “Come and See” arescreen versions of literary works. Though the war-time stories are differentthey have certain similarities at the plot level: the settings are the occupiedterritory of Belarus, the time is 1942–1943, the main characters are partisans.Nevertheless each of them displays specific visual aesthetics and a tremendousamount of work with sound. After all, the audio design of the film is one of themost important and interesting objects of study, since joint efforts of soundengineers and composers create a genuine and unique world of the movie. Nosound is random, because it is part of a certain system which determines thestructure of the film, for example, attention to the environment often creates asense of the reality of screen space.Only by analyzing the audio component can one fully understand thedirector’s idea, the dramatic structure and semantic accents in the films, theway a musical or noise score can add a new layer of meanings to the imagery.The soundtracks of the films about the Great Patriotic War “The Ascent” (1976)by L. Shepitko and “Come and See” (1985) by E.Klimov reflect two approachesto the sound design of war movies: music as a reflection of a visual image whichis then revealed in a new way, and music as a word-for-word translation, anillustration that ascribes a certain state to the image. Thus, composers AlfredSchnitke and Oleg Yanchenko, following dissimilar paths, create unique soundcanvases which use different techniques of musical expressiveness and reflectthe era in which the movies were shot.