Ivan's Childhood

Andrei Tarkovsky's first feature film, this 1962 drama revolves around a 12-year-old boy fighting on the front lines during World War II. Young Ivan is employed in reconnaissance work for a Soviet battalion that becomes his surrogate family after the Nazis kill his parents and sister. In particular, the unmarried Captain Kholin becomes a combination father-brother-hero to the lad, but the captain's attempt to adopt Ivan is nixed by a colonel who would rather send the rough-edged boy to military school (a notion Ivan violently rejects). Unfortunately, outside of two visually striking dream sequences at the beginning and conclusion of the film, very little here suggests the visual brilliance and intellectual prowess that Tarkovsky's later works would display. Ivan's Childhood never maintains a steady emotional balance, often wobbling strangely between blatant propaganda, schmaltzy sentiment (particularly the romantic subplot between the captain and a pretty young medic) and surprising indifference to the human condition in the midst of battle (Ivan's cruel fate is almost matter-of-factly presented). To its credit, however, the film is blessed with a striking performance by the young non-professional Nikolai Burlyaev as Ivan (he clearly made an impression on Tarkovsky, who cast him five years later as the bell maker in Andrei Rublev). Boasting gorgeous black-and-white cinematography by Vadim Yusov, DVD extras on this Criterion Collection edition include a half-hour video appreciation of the film and Tarkovsky's career, a pair of interviews with Burlyaev and Yusov, and a booklet featuring critical essays. Although recommended for larger foreign cinema collections and Tarkovsky fans, this is optional elsewhere. (P. Hall)[Blu-ray Review—Feb. 12, 2013—Criterion, 95 min., in Russian w/English subtitles, not rated, $39.95—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1962's Ivan's Childhood sports a great transfer and an uncompressed mono soundtrack. Extras are identical to the previous DVD release, including a “Life as a Dream" interview with film scholar Vida T. Johnson (31 min.), interviews from 2007 with cinematographer Vadim Yusov (12 min.) and star Nikolai Burlyaev (11 min.), and a booklet featuring an essay by film scholar Dina Iordanova, a “Between Two Films” essay by Tarkovsky, and the poem “Ivan's Willow” by the director's father Arseny Tarkovsky. Bottom line: Tarkovsky fans will welcome this sharp-looking Blu-ray debut of the director's first film.]