Ivan's Childhood (1962)

This is the movie that APOCALYPSE NOW tried to be with all of its grand visuals. Tarkovski did something in hour and a half that Coppola tried in three. How beautiful, important and brilliant this movie is, can´t be explained. You have to see it and sense it through your every pore. True master-piece from the greatest director in the world (apologies to Bergman and Kubrick).

Fmovies: A superb film, by turns lyrical, harsh and tense, with a deep sympathy for ordinary people caught up in inexplicable events overwhelming their lives. The uneasy state of the Russian army, facing the German front across wetlands, is reflected in the characters - the boy and the men are getting 'jittery' - and the destruction waged on the landscape reflects the damage done to the people themselves: the old man with his cockerel and, especially, Ivan, who slips between the dreams of sleep and the nightmare of living. Nature and innocence are linked, and the scene in the birch forest is especially effective. A life-enhancing film, both poetic and poignant.

IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is a masterful black and white work in which Andrei Tarkovsky demonstrates a complete command of stylistic improvisation, visual experimentation and complex use of symbolism. It is no less than astonishing that this is his first film. The story is a fairly simple tale of a young boy who wants to continue as a dangerous scout on the Russian front during the last days of WWII much to the dismay of the Soviet staff. The director employs an elliptical narrative which oscillates between an inner, dream-like vision, and actual events. Segments of the film are often introduced with extreme closeups which, at first, are difficult to recognize or understand. However, each scene is composed with the utmost attention to detail, and I don't think many paintings are created with this degree of clinical precision. Compositions begin stark and finely etched, and then seem to explode with meaning after the introduction of light and shadow. Although the film is set within the War Genre, the movie examines how war destroys the innocence of childhood. This masterwork contrasts the difference between an idyllic past where childhood should exist, and the brutal, warlike landscape of the front-lines. IVAN'S CHILDHOOD is a triumph of complex mood and nuanced style, and is truly one of the greats.

Ivan's Childhood fmovies. Ivan's Childhood is a pretty masterful example of editing, cinematography, acting, direction, and pretty much everything else that's right about film. Unfortunately, the drama or suspense is not very gripping.

This is as simple as I can put it. Film buffs will probably love this movie. It's crafted like a work of art. The average moviegoer will probably be bored during the film.

This film kind of defies convention and rating. I thought it was well- made, I just thought it wasn't very engaging.

With this, I have now seen all seven of Andrei Tarkovsky's features. I still have to see Steamroller and Violin, his student film. From a directorial standpoint, Ivan's Childhood is Tarkovsky's weakest film. It does not contain the kinds of things we associate with Tarkosky the auteur. If I had seen this when it first appeared, I would have definitely been impressed with it. But with Andrei Rublev, Tarkovsky created one of the best films ever made, a label that Ivan's Childhood is not likely to ever receive. Still, it is a great film with several great scenes. The problem is that Tarkovsky took this film over from another director. He didn't plan it. His major contributions were the several dream sequences, which are the best parts of the film (especially the one where Ivan and his sister are riding in the back of an apple truck when it is raining). Besides these dream sequences, there are several other good sequences and at least one other great one (the scene I refer to here is the one in the birch forest with Masha). The final sequence is beautiful and it brought me to tears. 9/10.

Tarkovsky's monochrome delight deals with the tragedy of youth lost in war. Its main theme is of childhood innocence lost (becoming accessible to Ivan only in dreams) however the young officers are also vastly aged by the conflict they find themselves in.

The backdrop is nature itself - woodpeckers and cuckoos emulate (or become replaced by) the sounds of machine gun fire and the hoots of the falling flares. It pervades most scenes: the seemingly endless channel of water between the opposing sides, the huge birch trees stretching out as high and as far as the eye can see while also providing bunkers for the Russian forces. But nature's power is continually challenged by the great war going on around it and is ultimately defiled and devastated (like Ivan's, and the other young officers' innocence) - turning from green grasslands to mud and ashen trees.

Reminded me of 'The Thin Red Line' in its use of the natural world war tries to ignore. The shots are honestly stunning. The leads are all fantastic. Enjoy the desolation.