Language
IVAN’s CHILDHOOD - Soviet Union/Russian/95 minutes/Director-Andrei Tarkovsky/1962
Ivan’s Childhood, Andrei Tarkovsky’s debut feature, is a poetic journey through the shards and shadows of one boy’s war-torn youth. Shifting between the traumatic realities of Second World War and serene moments of family life, the film is a jarring, unforgettable depiction of the impact of war on children. After the brutal death of his family by the Nazis, the 12-year-old orphan of war, Ivan Bondarev, insists on performing covert operations and reconnaissance missions for the Soviet Army by crossing the German lines unnoticed to collect information. Surrounded by the horrors and the madness of war, young Ivan is cared for almost as a son by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov and Captain Leonid Kholin--who fearing the safety of the boy, tries to take him away from the enemy lines to a military school. But the Ivan thirsts to avenge the death of his parents and begs for another mission behind the front lines. In the subsequent years, Director Tarkovsky became one of the best directors ever in the history of modern cinema.