Ivan's Childhood (1962)

Original title

Иваново детство

Directed by

Andrei Tarkovsky

Genre

drama film, war film, teen film

Country

Soviet Union

Runtime

1h 35m

Rated

16

Rating

7.8 of 10 from 839 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

An orphaned boy named Ivan works as a scout for the Soviet army during World War II after his parents were killed by German forces. The film follows his dangerous missions and the brief moments of peace that contrast with the brutal reality of war.

bleakhauntingmelancholicdreamlikeintimateunsettlingsomberslow-burn

What happens

Ivan's Childhood (Russian: Ива́ново де́тство, romanized: Ivanovo detstvo), sometimes released as My Name Is Ivan in the US, is a 1962 Soviet war drama film directed by Andrei Tarkovsky. Co-written by Mikhail Papava, Andrei Konchalovsky and an uncredited Tarkovsky, it is based on Vladimir Bogomolov's 1957 short story "Ivan". The film features child actor Nikolai Burlyayev along with Valentin Zubkov, Evgeny Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolai Grinko, and Tarkovsky's then wife Irma Raush. Ivan's Childhood tells the story of orphaned boy Ivan, whose parents were killed by the invading German forces, and his experiences during World War II. Ivan's Childhood was one of several Soviet films of its period, such as The Cranes Are Flying and Ballad of a Soldier, that looked at the human cost of war and did not glorify the war experience as did films produced before the Khrushchev Thaw. In a 1962 interview, Tarkovsky stated that in making the film he wanted to "convey all [his] hatred of war", and that he chose childhood "because it is what contrasts most with war." Ivan's Childhood was Tarkovsky's first feature film. It won him critical acclaim and made him internationally known. It won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival and the Golden Gate Award at the San Francisco International Film Festival, both in 1962. The film was also selected as the Soviet entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 36th Academy Awards, but was not accepted as a nominee. Famous filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov and Krzysztof Kieślowski praised the film and cited it as an influence on their work. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Trailer

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