Ivanovo detstvo (1962)

	Also Known As: Ivan's childhood, L'enfance d'Ivan
	Year of first release: 1962
	Director: Andrei Tarkowskiy
	Actors: Nikolay Burlayev, Valentin Zubkov, Valentina Malyavina
	Country: SU
	Genre: War
	Conditions of visioning: 23.08.2014, DVD, Russian version with English subtitles
Synopsis: Ivan (Burlayev) lost mother and father during the World war II. Sincethen he found his place in the Red armyto fight against the Nazis. He goes across the front and gain information on the Nazi side. Some officers as Kholin (Zubkov) like him and take Ivan under their wing.
Review: Fascinated by the Solaris of Tarkowski and knowing a good source for his movies, I continue watching his movies. This first movie by Tarkowski won the Golden Lion in Venice.  The movie is in a beautiful black and white, thinking about the shadows as a colour for the picture composition, as a tool generating volume, typical of Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin), but actually mostly as a tool to focus on an actor's face. The story of Ivan is actually good and the way to switch from the flash backs during dreams and the reality is beautiful, also when both converge. This scene reminded me Apocalypse now when Martin Sheen seems to sense the forest. The look of Ivan and the look of Martin Sheen. But many scenes of the movie do not have anything to do with the main story and do not build an interesting story, the affair of Kholin with a nurse (Malyavina). Or at least I did not understood the connection. Otherwise it would be a very good movie. The actors Malyavina and Zubkov are good in these scenes, for the both naive and lascive looks.
Rating: 6 /10 I collected below some interesting posters of the movie, showing how different the movie has been affecting the different countries.