Ivanovo detstvo (1962)

User Rating:

8.0/10   

Director:

Andrei Tarkovsky
(more)

Writers:

Vladimir Bogomolov (screenplay)
Vladimir Bogomolov (story)
(more)

Release Date:

27 June 1963 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | War

Plot:

12-year old Ivan works as a spy at the eastern front. The small Ivan can cross the German lines unnoticed to collect information...

Plot Keywords:

Spy | Young Spy | Dream | Suicide | Anti War

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Nikolay Burlyaev	...	Ivan (as Kolya Burlyayev)
Valentin Zubkov	...	Capt. Kholin (as V. Zubkov)
Yevgeni Zharikov	...	Lt. Galtsev (as Ye. Zharikov)
Stepan Krylov	...	Cpl. Katasonov (as S. Krylov)
Nikolai Grinko	...	Lt. Col. Gryaznov (as N. Grinko)
Dmitri Milyutenko	...	Old Man (as D. Milyutenko)
Valentina Malyavina	...	Masha (as V. Malyavina)
Irma Raush	...	Ivan's Mother (as I. Tarkovskaya)
Andrei Konchalovsky	...	Soldier (as A. Konchalovsky)
Ivan Savkin		(as I. Savkin)
Vladimir Marenkov		(as V. Marenkov)
Vera Miturich	...	Girl

Directed by
Andrei Tarkovsky
Eduard Abalov		(fired) (uncredited)

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Vladimir Bogomolov		screenplay
Vladimir Bogomolov		story "Ivan"
Andrei Konchalovsky		uncredited
Mikhail Papava		writer
Andrei Tarkovsky		uncredited

Original Music by
Vyacheslav Ovchinnikov

Cinematography by
Vadim Yusov

Film Editing by
Lyudmila Feiginova		(as L. Feiginova)

Production Design by
Yevgeni Chernyayev

Art Direction by
Ye. Chernyayaev

Makeup Department
Lyudmila Baskakova	....	makeup artist (as L. Baskakova)

Production Management
G. Kuznetsov	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Georgi Natanson	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Inna Zelentsova	....	sound (as E. Zelentsova)

Special Effects by
Sergei Mukhin	....	special effects
V. Sevostyanov	....	special effects

Music Department
Emin Khachaturyan	....	conductor

Other crew
E. Smirnov	....	script editor

Production Companies

• Mosfilm

Distributors

• Seagull Films (2000) (USA) (theatrical)
• Contemporary Films (2000) (UK) (all media)
• Criterion Collection, The (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Empresa Hispanoamericana de Video (EHV) (Argentina) (video)
• General Video (2006) (Italy) (DVD)
• RUSCICO (2004) (worldwide) (DVD)
• Shore International (1963) (USA) (subtitled)
• Sovexportfilm (Argentina)

Other Companies

• Kinostudiya "Mosfilm"  production unit

Also Known As:

Иваново детство (Soviet Union: Russian title)
Childhood of Ivan
Ivan's Childhood
My Name Is Ivan (USA)
The Youngest Spy

Runtime:

95 min | USA:84 min

Country:

Soviet Union

Language:

Russian | German

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M | Portugal:M/12 | Argentina:16 | Finland:K-16 | Sweden:15 | West Germany:16 | UK:PG (re-rating) (1988) | UK:A (original rating) | Hong Kong:I

Filming Locations:

Dnieper River, Kanev, Ukraine

Company:

Mosfilm

Trivia:

Nikolay Burlyaev is seen in this film ringing a bell. He would, 4 years later, play the character of Boriska - who shall build a giant bell - in 'Andrey Tarkovsky''s next feature Andrey Rublyov (1966).

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Dead Man (1995)

Ivan, a shattered life

"Childhood of Ivan" is not only about Ivan's life but it stands as a symbol for the many Russian lives shattered by the war. This is an elliptical film, that is, it doesn't reveal everything - it suggests.

"Childhood of Ivan" requires the use of your brain and imagination, but it is in no way a difficult film. Once you accept not understanding everything right now, just relax and follow the images and sounds and you are ready for the "Childhood of Ivan".

As I said before the film uses many ellipses to show Ivan's fractured life - he plays in the fields, his mother calls him and smiles; a water well, he stares down at the water and his mother stands beside him and tells a story about the stars; we hear a gun shot, someone lying on the grass; Ivan is wading through a swamp to reach a soviet army unit.

The war is not shown at all - it is suggested. We only see the enemy soldiers once for a brief moment. And two hanged men is all there is to denounce the carnage of the war. The rest is suggested by unfinished speeches, by faces where pain is followed right after by the desire to live and be happy......

Ivan's memories: His mother, his sister and their games, the beach, the sea and the rain, his captivity - his life, a broken life. Nothing remained for him in life but to fight - to fight against the enemy that had taken everything from him.

I repeat that "Childhood of Ivan" is not a partisan film, it doesn't try to demonize the adversaries. I would call it much more an intimist film, somewhat in the vein of "Les Jeux Interdits", but Ivan's childhood was over after the horrors he had to go through; his only way to survive as a human being was to fight the horror that had crippled his life, while the children of "Les Jeux Interdits" went on with their children games in spite of the war. France, because of her fast surrender, was preserved from the butchery inflicted on the Soviet Union.

I recommend this film to everyone who wants to see a paradoxically sad, beautiful, reflexive and passionate film.