When I discovered the first films of Tarkovsky, it was a miracle. I suddenly found myself before a door to which I had never had the key.a room which I had always wished to penetrate and wherein he felt perfectly at ease. Someone was able to express what I had always wished to say without knowing how. For me Tarkovsky is the greatest filmmaker.
- Ingmar Bergman
I can’t say that I’m familiar with any Russian films, let alone Russian directors so it’s quite unsurprising that I hadn’t heard of Andrei Tarkovsky. Tarkovsky was a film director, opera director, writer and film theorist – quite well known by many people around the world and considered to be one of the most influential filmmakers of the 20th century.
He made his first feature film, Ivan’s Childhood in 1962 just two years after he completed film school. Adapted from the story by Vladimir Bogomolov, it is about a 12 year old orphaned boy who is a spy for the Russian army during World War II. While made in the sixties, Tarkovsky chose to create the film in black and white, saying “in a black and white film there is no feeling of something extraneous going on, [and] the audience can watch the film without being distracted from the action by colour”. He certainly had a unique approach to films and filmmaking, which was only advantageous – Ivan’s Childhood won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival in 1962 as well as the Golden Gate Award for Best Director at the San Francisco International Film Festival.
It is not a typical war film with heroic soldiers in extensive battle scenes and is a film with very little violence. Instead, it is a film that explores the impact of the war on the people involved in it and the effect that the loss of family has upon people. The narrative is non-linear with frequent flashbacks or dreams that Ivan is experiencing that involve his mother and a happier time. Dreams and memory are recurring motifs throughout the film and throughout Tarkovsky’s other works. Water and reflections are significant motifs in Ivan’s Childhood and the forest setting of the film is quite impressive, resulting in some admirable composition.
Ivan’s Childhood is a haunting, emotional film and one that I immensely enjoyed. Hopefully I’ll get my hands on a copy of Tarkovsky’s book Sculpting in Time as it sounds like an interesting read and I look forward to watching more of his films.
Maximilian Le Cain, Andrei Tarkovsky, Senses of Cinema, Issue 20 http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2002/great-directors/tarkovsky/
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