Ivan's Childhood

This film takes place on the eastern front during World War II. Before this film I've never considered the fact that small boys would be used to aid the war effort. This is story about a special kind of kid. I have no idea what its like to lose family and be all alone. I can't even imagine what its like. The story that unfolds as the movie progresses made feel grateful that someone took time to mentor this young boy. The thing is, the army must have been absolutely desperate to trust Ivan in the first place. War is a frightful thing for men of all ages, and this boy fought it all alone on the other side of enemy lines. You have to give Ivan a lot of credit for providing accurate enough information to be used again.
I felt like Ivan was good at what he did because the german's killed his family. He did have some pretty disturbing nightmares. Specifically the one where he sees the writing on the wall about how everyone is going to be executed in an hour. Ivan's nerves seemed completely shot when he was in the bunker playing spy in the dark. When he was going around with the knife in the dark he was near tears the whole time. That part really made me wonder how he is able to be effective for his missions.
As far as the director goes, this was definately a Tarkovsky film. Water was apparent throughout the film, from the river to the drops of water. I do like the way he used nature in this film better than Mirror. I loved the way he used the well in Ivan's Childhood. I thought that it was a great scene to illustrate the relationship between Ivan and his mother. Tarkovsky also caught some beautiful shots of the birch forest. That scene to me was one where I thought color would have been out of place. That was my favorite backdrop scene of the movie. It captured the characters, Masha and Galtsev, perfectly for that scene. This movie was fantastic.