(Ivanovo Detstvo) Ivan's Childhood

This 1962 film was the first but who is known as one of the finest directors of the era, Andriy Tarkovskiy.
This is a deceptively simple film. In some odd ways it is not actually very far at all from quite a traditional war movie, in that it examines the fate of a young biy at war. There are some interesting things in the background of this story though, indicating more at work.
The central character of Ivan is not just initially recalcitrant, but his sheer incorrigablilty right to the very end makes him almost remarkable. The narrative structure follows no one in particular, but that doesn't mean the conclusion becomes any less electric; the absence of Ivan to be followed, the way he is an empty concept, means he haunts the film before he does that final house.
The story does show things from a variety of perspectives, and has enough tropes of almost surreal, dreamlike behaviour to show here something damaged beyond the traditional fallout from war. Tarkovskiy may not, in this film, have let this idea fully flower, but it's there.
Tarkovskiy's camera work is floating, very elegant. There isn't a huge amount of identification, but there is quite a prominent number of Soviet style huge-face shots to go with this. The use of colour and contrast is sharp and, at times, remarkable. Tarkovskiy's traditional rolling smoke, the dark and wooden blacks of the forest, create some fine images.
This is a deceptively simple film in some ways. Underneath the complications, though, lie much, much more, perhaps latent. A little bit of a tease, but still rather good.