How sad is this?

n my opinion it was a great movie with some interesting elements, even though having some plot holes and the ending probably was just too messy and crammed together, but still fun to watch and not your casual movie that is similar to all other ones.

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

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.

Somewhat ironically titled, this Andrei Tarkovsky war drama is about the protagonist's lack of a real childhood; orphaned during World War II, he spends his days running errands for Soviet soldiers to avoid being sent to school, however, dreams and nightmares of his prewar life frequently haunt him. Nikolay Burlyaev is very effective in the lead role and the film is as sumptuously filmed as Tarkovsky's better known colour films. Right from the opening shot that magnificent pans up a tall tree, to spinning and angular shots as Ivan remembers what is to like to roam free, it is evident from early on that the film will be quite a visual ride - and indeed it is. Tarkovsky evens puts negative (inverted colours) stock to good use. Impressive as all this may be, 'Ivan's Childhood' is a bit of a bumpy ride. Valentina Malyavina is quite alluring as a character called Masha, however, all dramatic tension comes to a stand-still when the film randomly stops to concentrate on her walking in the woods for minutes on end. In fact, pretty much all the scenes without Burlyaev (give or take the final ending) feel very cut and dry. There are a lot of dialogue exchanges between the soldiers without Ivan in the room, which feels like a misstep since the film truly comes to life in both the moments when Ivan tries to act like a soldier himself and when Ivan remembers back to what life once was.

I read the plot synopsis, and thought - this will be a good Tarkovskij WWII movie! - remembering Andrei Rublev's Tartars attack scene.Then I watched it, and realised that I saw a movie about war without seeing war. There's a lot of the post-war destruction, that was very well shot as well, but no war action at all, if we don't consider the opening and near-the-ending sneaking around. The movie focuses of course on a child soldier, that is angry at Germans whom supposedly destroyed his family, and how he grows up, though his fate is tragic. This movie enlights on an aspect we don't really see of war in war movies, from a perspective and in a setting we don't really see often, and does it outstandingly.Yet I've put the lowest rating I gave to a Tarkovskij film. That's because it doesn't have that sort of thing other reviewers call "Poetry" Other Tarkovskij films have: even if I could enjoy this better than Nostalghia or Sacrifice, those film had much more messages to tell. But, still, I consider "outstanding" all the films I rate over 8.

My review (it's in Portuguese) Plot form Wikipedia: On the Eastern front during World War II, the Soviet army is fighting the invading German Wehrmacht. The film features a non-linear plot with frequent flashbacks.After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev (Nikolai Burlyayev), a 12- year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river. On the other side, he is seized by Russian soldiers and brought to the young Lieutenant Galtsev (Evgeny Zharikov), who interrogates him. The boy insists that he call "Number 51 at Headquarters" and report his presence. Galtsev is reluctant, but when he eventually makes the call, he is told by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov (Nikolai Grinko) to give the boy pencil and paper to make his report, which will be given the highest priority, and to treat him well. Through a series of dream sequences and conversations between different characters, it is revealed that Ivan's mother and sister (and probably his father, a border guard) have been killed by German soldiers. He got away and joined a group of partisans. When the group was surrounded, they put him on a plane. After the escape, he was sent to a boarding school, but he ran away and joined an army unit under the command of Gryaznov.Burning for revenge, Ivan insists on fighting on the front line. Taking advantage of his small size, he is successful on reconnaissance missions. Gryaznov and the other soldiers grow fond of him and want to send him to a military school. They give up their idea when Ivan tries to run away and rejoin the partisans. He is determined to avenge the death of his family and others, such as those killed at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp (which he mentions that he has seen).A subplot involves Captain Kholin (Valentin Zubkov) and his aggressive advances towards a pretty army nurse, Masha (Valentina Malyavina), and Galtsev's own undeclared and unrequited feelings for her. Much of the film is set in a room where the officers await orders and talk, while Ivan awaits his next mission. On the walls are scratched the last messages of doomed prisoners of the Germans.Finally, Kholin and Galtsev ferry Ivan across the river late at night. He disappears through the swampy forest. The others return to the other shore after cutting down the bodies of two Soviet scouts hanged by the Germans.The final scenes of the film then switch to Berlin under Soviet occupation after the fall of the Third Reich. Captain Kholin has been killed in action. Galtsev finds a document showing that Ivan was caught and hanged by the Germans. As Galtsev enters the execution room, a final flashback of Ivan's childhood shows the young boy running across a beach after a little girl in happier times. The final image is of a dead tree on the beach.