Ivan's Childhood (1962)

 Andrei Tarkovsky's "Ivan's Childhood"

In watching "Ivan's Childhood," I am able to finally begin the filmography of my all-time favorite filmmaker, Andrei Tarkovsky. It's clear that this is an amateur work from the great master, given that it's his debut feature. However, many of the styles and choices he will come to be known for creep up in "Ivan's Childhood," and marks a dramatic shift in Soviet cinema.

One of the key ways it marks a shift in Soviet cinema is Tarkovsky's concentration on nature. The Stalinist viewpoint that had indoctrinated itself into the nation's standards for cinema was that nature was to be depicted as a means to serve human agency. During the Khrushchev thaw at the time of the film's release, many filmmakers began to operate outside the scope of the previous regime's restrictions. Tarkovsky chose to depict nature as being an omniscient observer of human violence and suffering. 

Remarkably, this inclusion of a subjectivity beyond humanity creates an inherent spiritual element in the piece. There is a much more modernist feel to "Ivan's Childhood" that other artistic Soviet films at the time had not yet attained. At a time when France was embracing modernist and post-modern cinematic representations, Tarkovsky marked the introduction of this style in the Soviet Union.

Tarkovsky also seems to be borrowing many thematic choices from his idol, Robert Bresson. Bresson usually injected his films with a sense of crushing nihilism, engrained in the dry, cold, and empty tonal aesthetics of his films. With "Ivan's Childhood," Tarkovsky uses the horrors of previous war to bring forth his bleak and pitch-black perspective. 

Ivan cannot have a childhood, despite his dreams and fantasies of returning to his simpler time. Rather, he is forced to confront the brutality of the world. He is surrounded by post-apocalyptic environments - ruins of domesticity and engravings that read "They are taking us out in the morning to shoot us. Avenge us!" Violence and terror are the constant in Ivan's reality.

In this pseudo-Bressionian attempt, "Ivan's Childhood" demonstrates the horror of humanity and existence. It is a spiritual meditation on the bleakness of reality and our inescapability from these horrors. Although it is his first feature, it certainly denotes the levels of artistry Tarkovsky was capable of.