Intcatinfo A Masterpiece!

Odelecol Pretty good movie overall. First half was nothing special but it got better as it went along.

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Scarlet The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

benjaminburt 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.

Mees T. Tarkovsky said that children understood his films better than adults.After watching Ivan's Childhood, I can agree to some degree with that statement.Ivan's Childhood is not so much about war, but it's about the troubled mind of a child. Everything we learn about Ivan is unfolded in such a natural, innocent and sometimes harsh way. Many aspects of the behavior of a child is shown in Tarkovsky's first film. In one scene we see how the angry Ivan is disobedient to adults, in the next scene Ivan with tears in his eyes.Tarkovsky does a fantastic job portraying dreams (not as good as his later work, but still very immersive). Ivan sees the things that makes him happy in his dreams: his mother, his friends, him playing games, and him doing the unthinkable. While he's awake, he has to suffer. Not physical, but emotional.The director makes such a great balance between the dreams and the reality Ivan has to face. Nikolay Burlyaev has got to be one of the best child actors I have seen in my life. Together, these two managed to make a fantastic piece of art.

gavin6942 During World War II, 12-year old Ivan works as a spy on the eastern front. The small Ivan can cross the German lines unnoticed to collect information. Three Soviet officers try to take care of this boy-child.Tarkovsky may be better known for his science fiction films, especially "Stalker". But he is much more, as this early venture shows. A dark look at war, from the eyes of a child who lives among gunfire daily and is caught in the deadliest battles of the second world war -- between the Russians and the Germans.You might say "dark look at war" is redundant, but not so. Just think of "Life is Beautiful", for example, or "Underground". War can be funny is an absurd sense. There is nothing funny here, not even an ounce of comic relief. This is war, and a war that affects all ages.

TheLittleSongbird And not just as a feature film debut, but Ivan's Childhood is a truly great film in its own right, and perhaps the most accessible of Tarkovsky's films(being his shortest and briskest). Tarkovsky is not at his absolute best here in the sense that his style was still settling and he went on to even better things(Andrei Rublev gets my vote as the greatest Soviet film ever made). This may sound like a knock but it isn't, even when Tarkovsky is not at his finest he is much better than most other directors when not at their best and Ivan's Childhood is still beautifully directed, up there with one of the better feature film directorial debuts.Tarkovsky's films are among the most visually beautiful I've ever seen and Ivan's Childhood is not an exception. The cinematography from Vadim Yusov is gorgeous and evokes chills, there is a dream-like quality to it but also a hard-edged realism. The use of landscapes is wonderfully Expressionistic, making the real-life sequences even more hard-hitting. The music score is haunting and the film is written in a thought-provoking way that wrenches the gut and breaks the heart. It isn't a Tarkovsky film without memorable scenes and images and Ivan's Childhood has those certainly, the dream sequences make the film(i.e. Ivan and his sister on the apple cart in the rain) but standing out too are the magical birch forest scene, the emotionally harrowing scene in the dark house and especially one of the most heart-breakingly powerful endings ever. What's remarkable is that while the story sounds simple, there are several characteristic Tarkovsky themes for so early on his career and when it comes to mood Ivan's Childhood works amazingly.Furthermore the story of Ivan's Childhood is incredibly touching, the childhood scenes are the epitome of innocence in a heartfelt, sometimes entertaining and charming way and in complete contrast(without feeling like two different films) the effect of the war and combat is both grotesque and poetic. The characters are interesting and vibrantly portrayed, although Masha is a little one-note for my tastes, Ivan is a compellingly real character who is easy to identify with from the get go. The acting is very good, outstanding in fact in the case of Nikolai(Kolya) Burlylaev who gives one of the best child performances I've ever seen on film. Overall, for a directorial/feature film debut Ivan's Childhood is incredible and as an overall film it's near-masterpiece quality. 9/10 Bethany Cox