Customer Reviews

Ivan's Childhood / Ivanovo Detstvo (1962)

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Ivan's Childhood is Tarkovsky's debut feature film about a 12 year old boy who volunteers to fight in the front lines against the German invasion because his family where murdered by Nazis. His size and height make him the perfect spy for the Russians as he slides his way across muck and swamp to bring back vital information about the German offence that no other man can achieve. At the same time his commanding officers object to this boy being used as a tool of war but have no control over the matter because of Ivan's convictions to bring down those that killed his parents.

Shot in beautiful monochrome the camera never ceases to capture nature, religion, dreams and love - all of which are major elements in any Tarkovsky film. This motion picture is one of the most stunning independent movies you will ever see, however it is Tarkovsky's first movie and has a short running time of 90 minutes only (most of his other works are around 180 minutes long), so don't expect to find a lot of long Tarkovsky's trademark time consuming slow shots. This one moves a little faster than most of his art house creations.

Sometimes Ivan cries like the child he is, but this is not because of the burden of war but because he can not do what he wants most - to avenge the death of his family. Other times he is like a General in the making - standing up to his commanders, spitting orders back at them, making other soldiers look pale in comparison and walking into the fray without any fear attached. The dichotomy of his fractured personality is evident the most when he is alone. One moment he is dreaming of his mother, the next he is stalking the ghost of a Nazi murderer in the room where he sleeps (which is one of the most disturbing scenes in this film and in cinema).

The final sequence in the ruins of Berlin fully brings home the impact of the film's premise. This is a story about Ivan's Childhood and that is exactly what you get. Heart wrenching from the first frame to the last and never equaled. To think this was all made in 1962! Shocking cinema at its very best and certainly the best rendition of the troubles of Child Soldier's ever presented on the silver screen.

Tarkovsky shot this movie in full frame so it is not in widescreen like most of his others.

Poignant portrait about an orphan twelve years old child who runs into a war with all the purity he still keeps from his awful childhood, without knowning the hell that waits for him.
This film may be among the five saddest films in any time.
The visuals metaphors about the lost childhood are simply amazing .
This film was a winner and the first that threw to Andrei Tarkovsky , becoming from this opera prima in one of the genius of the world cinema.
A must for any lover cinema and above all the art.

In 1962 Andrei Tarkovsky made an incredible directing debut with his film "Ivan's Childhood" (aka My Name is Ivan). "Ivan's Childhood" is an extremely powerful film that shows the worst effects a war can have. In this way, it is similar to the 1959 Russian anti-war film "The Ballad of a Soldier". Both films are similar in that they each emphasize the fact that war tears families apart. In "The Ballad of a Soldier" this heartfelt truth is ultimately grasped through the point of view of a mother, while in "Ivan's Childhood", it is perceived through the eyes of a twelve-year old boy.

I must admit that I found "Ivan's Childhood" to be very moving. In the movie it is sad to see the ongoing image of Ivan riding in a wagon with his sister, since it is a memory that Ivan longs for but ultimately knows will never occur. The war has after all robbed Ivan of his family, his childhood, and his innocence. Ivan is therefore left a bitter twelve-year old who now thirsts for vengeance, not being able to enjoy a day at the beach or wagon ride through the forest like any other child. I will proceed no further with the details of the plot, since I do not wish to spoil a movie that I highly recommend. I however do wish to state that the movie is an excellent example of Tarkovsky's early genius. It serves as a precursor to Tarkovsky's many great films. In fact, "Ivan's Childhood" has some similar qualities of his greatest film "Andrei Rublev". Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov, who composed the soundtrack to "Ivan's Childhood", also wrote the music to "Andrei Rublev". Furthermore, Ivan is played by Nikolai Burlyayev, who also plays Boriska "the bell-boy" in Andrei Rublev.

In summary "Ivan's Childhood" is a must see movie despite it not being a war film. On the contrary, it is an anti-war film. Therefore the action is limited but the ill effects of the war are still thoroughly felt. Tarkovsky even as a "rookie" director making his debut has created a more profound art piece than someone like Spielberg ever could.

The DVD release by Russico is decent. The picture quality is good for a black and white film. The picture I believe was only filmed in a full screen format. I bought Russico's release after wasting countless emails to Criterion Collection to release their own copy. All I received were empty promises that it was to be released in Fall 2002! Well behold it has not even been released Fall 2004. It is suffice to say that Russico's version is well worth buying.

The first full-length feature film by the great Russian director Andrei Tarkovsky caused a sensation when it was released and shown at Venice Film Festival in 1962 where it won the Golden Lion. The world had not seen such a powerful motion picture about war and what it does to the youngest and weakest - the children. It is a bleak, haunting and horrifying portrait of lost innocence and the childhood that was interrupted the very day the boy's family was murdered. Although Ivan survived physically, he was changed forever, not a boy but a man who looked in the eye of triumphant death and horror. The film introduces young Nikolai (Kolya) Burlyaev in the fascinating performance as Ivan. "Ivan's Childhood" is a screen adaptation of the story by a Russian writer Vladimir Bogomolov "Ivan" which is a fiction story but it is based on the real facts. Millions young boys and girls perished during the endless days, months, and years of the worst war of the last century. Bogomolov fought as a soldier during the WWII. He was only 15 years old but he had forged his papers - added two years, dropped from his school and joined the Army. He had been seriously wounded three times but survived and finished the war in Berlin - the 19 year old soldier with six medals for courage and heroism. He was a very good writer and I love his books "Moment of Truth" ("In the August of 1944"), and "Zosya" that were also adapted to very good movies in Russia.

Ivan's Childhood amazes with the fluidity of its camerawork, its wonderful use of sound and its matter of fact depiction of war - not the moments of combat that make up only a tiny part of the experience, but the moments between, where people try to catch whatever they can, be it love, hope, memories or just sleep. It's a simple tale extraordinarily well told, and if the sudden leap in chronology at the end is jarring, the result is nonetheless very moving. Even the fantasy/memory scenes of a nature more vivid that the burnt out husk or swamps of war are beautifully handled, and it's easy to see this being a major influence on Spielberg's most underrated film, Empire of the Sun. Very impressive, it was a surprise to learn from the DVD that the film was shot on an ultra-low budget because another director and cast had used up half the budget before their version was scrubbed, only for Kruschev's disapproval to limit the film's Russian release while it was conquering the arthouses worldwide.

This film is not one of the better humanist war films because it doesn't entail much except lurid shots of the protagonist in his former self before the war. Ivan, who is a rabid, little self-defeating skunk who gets angry at people, has no endeavor to show us his true self. Tarkovsky does some fine work in certain scenes but there is just too much mundane glamor like the soldiers talking about nothing. There is not enough sense of anxiety, artistic form or even conflict to stimulate an interest and the contrived, typical European art house ending was wholly un-original.