Film Review
The horrors and injustices of war are never more keenly felt than when
seen from the vantage point of a child. In his astonishing debut
feature
Ivan's Childhood,
Andrei Tarkovsky presents a hauntingly poetic child's eye view of war
that transcends the stark brutality of its subject and instils in
anyone who watches it an overwhelming sense of anguish. It is a
war film like no other, the harrowingly realistic depiction of one
boy's wartime exploits intermittently invaded by vividly lyrical dream
sequences that recall his happier years before the war. The Ivan
we see in the sunny dream-interludes, a carefree child basking in a
world of paradisiacal beauty, is virtually unrecognisable as the
hardened avenging angel we see scuttling across the battle-scarred
landscape of WWII. Vanquished is the innocence of childhood, and
in its place is a searing lust for revenge. When he is caught in
a Nazi air raid, Ivan flatly remarks that he is not afraid - a coldly
mechanical admission that chills the blood. War hasn't only
robbed Ivan of his childhood, it has also taken away his soul.
Made at a time when there was a mood in the Soviet Union to reflect on
the enormous human cost of the Second World War
Ivan's Childhood proved to be
enormously successful. It garnered huge critical acclaim on both
sides of the Iron Curtain and established Tarkovsky as one of the
most promising film directors of his generation. The film
also received the Gold Lion award at the 1962 Venice Film Festival - an
auspicious start to a filmmaking career of almost unrivalled
brilliance. Even Ingmar Bergman found the film to be a revelatory
experience, one that would have a profound and lasting impact on his
own creative output. Jean-Paul Sartre described it as one of the
most beautiful films he had ever seen.
Although it is overshadowed to some extent by the grander, more
experimental films that Tarkovsky would go on to make,
Ivan's Childhood is unquestionably
a work of exceptional power and beauty. The compelling narrative,
taken from a short story written by Vladimir Bogomolov in 1957,
provides Tarkovsky with a sturdy framework which allows him to freely
develop his radical and very distinctive aesthetic, one which blurs the
boundary been reality and imagination and employs strong visual images
to expose the inner traumas of the protagonists. Tarkovsky
was particularly fortunate to have Vadim Yusov as his cinematographer,
as it is Yusov's keen visual sense and penchant for experimentation
that contributes just as much to the film as its firebrand
director. Nikolai Burlyayev also deserves a special
mention, as his portrayal of the central protagonist Ivan is, perhaps
more than anything, what gives the film such a powerful emotional
resonance. A child actor of formidable skill and presence,
Burlyayev would also distinguish himself as the bell maker in
Tarkovsky's next film,
Andrei Rublev (1966).
Anyone familiar with Tarkovsky's later films will be struck by the pace
and visual dynamism of this first film, which employs camera movement
and lighting effects far more freely than is typical of this
director. The transitions that catapult us from Ivan's dreams to
his living reality are abrupt to the point of heart-stoppingly
frenetic, and yet there is also a striking synergy between the poetry
of Ivan's grim wartime experiences and his Elysian flights of
fancy. By intertwining images of the boy's happy past and
nightmarish present, both adorned with some eerie symbolism, Tarkovsky
manages to weave a terse anti-war poem of devastating poignancy.
As mesmerising as the film is, its elegant martyrdom of a child has about it the horrifying,
unforgiveable brutality of a rape.
© James Travers 2014
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.
Film Synopsis
During World War II, the Soviet army is fighting to repel the advancing
German army on the Eastern Front. 12-year-old orphan Ivan goes on
reconnaissance missions for the Soviets, taking advantage of his
diminutive size to avoid being spotted and captured by the enemy.
After one such mission he runs into a party of Russian soldiers and is
taken to Lieutenant Galtsev for interrogation. The young officer
is surprised to discover that Ivan is an experienced and valuable scout
and begins to develop an attachment towards him. After the death
of his parents and sister, Ivan joined a group of partisans but was
arrested and sent to a boarding school. The boy escaped and found
his way into an army unit commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel
Gryaznov. Determined to avenge the death of his family, Ivan
persuaded Gryaznov to use him as a reconnaissance scout. After
the boy's latest mission, Gryaznov is determined to send him to a
military school. Ivan has other ideas...
© James Travers
The above content is owned by filmsdefrance.com and must not be copied.