Ivanovo Dietsvo
Andreï Tarkovski
Ivan, 12, who watched his mother be killed by German soldiers, works for the Soviet army and becomes a valued intelligence agent. Slender and frail, this child lives for revenge. When offered, he refuses to take part in a military training that would distance him from the front line and the atrocities of war.
With : Nikolaï Bourliaev, Valentin Zoubkov, Evgeni Zharikov, Stepan Krylov, Nikolaï Grinko, Valentina Malgavina, Irma Tarkovskaïa
Screenplay : Vladimir Bogomolov, Mikhail Papava, d'après le roman éponyme de Vladimir Bogomolov
Image : Vadim Yusov
Sound : Inna Zelzntsova
Music : Viatcheslav Ovtchinnikov
Editing : Lyudmila Feiginova
Screenplay : Vladimir Bogomolov, Mikhail Papava, d'après le roman éponyme de Vladimir Bogomolov
Image : Vadim Yusov
Sound : Inna Zelzntsova
Music : Viatcheslav Ovtchinnikov
Editing : Lyudmila Feiginova
Distribution: Arkeïon Films
Ivan's Childhood, the first film by the director of The Sacrifice (1986), Solaris (1972) and Andrei Rublev (1969) imposes a "quasi de-historicized" vision of the war, condemning it primarily for its destruction of lives and the promise of a future; it is no more than a monstrous situation. Accused in his time of "socialist formalism" by a blindly ideological film critic, Jean-Paul Sartre strongly defended his work: "The officers end up accepting the child with a mixture of tenderness, stupor and agonizing mistrust. They see in him the perfect monster, so appealing and almost odious, who the enemy has hardened, who affirms himself only through his murderous impulses (the knife for example), who cannot separate war from death, who now needs that sinister world to exist, who feels free of fear at the front line and yet knows insurmountable anguish at the rear. The young victim knows what he needs: war – which has made him who he is – blood and revenge."