Overview
A young boy navigates the horrors of war with the cunning of a seasoned spy.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Strong
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Moderate
- melancholic
- dreamy
- foreboding
- serious film study
- arthouse cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard the film as an internationally acclaimed, visually poetic and emotionally devastating war drama that establishes Andrei Tarkovsky’s signature artistic language.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
Ivan’s frontline reality repeatedly gives way to dreamlike images of childhood, family, nature, and memory.
Destroyed villages, swamps, flares, trees, and stark black-and-white compositions make the Eastern Front feel both physical and dreamlike.
Twelve-year-old Ivan serves as a scout because war has deprived him of family, safety, and ordinary childhood.
Ivan’s scouting work and the officers’ attempts to protect him foreground childhood destroyed by World War II violence.
Films like Ivan's Childhood, and why
Come and See
shared wartime childhood perspective, lyrical visual language, and devastating portrayal of violence against civilians
The Cranes Are Flying
shared Soviet war setting, intimate humanism, and poetic black-and-white treatment of historical trauma
Hope and Glory
shared child-centered wartime drama, dreamlike imagery, and tension between innocence and military violence
The Ascent
shared austere antiwar atmosphere, psychologically fractured soldiers, and formally expressive historical drama
Movie Details
- Director
- Andrei Tarkovsky
- Release Date
- 1962-05-09
- Runtime
- 95 min
- Rating
- 7.8 / 10 (865)
Cast
- Nikolay Burlyaev
- Valentin Zubkov
- Yevgeni Zharikov
- Stepan Krylov
- Mykola Hrynko
- Dmytro Milyutenko
- Valentina Malyavina
- Irma Raush
- Andrei Konchalovsky
- Ivan Savkin
Where to watch in United States
- Streaming
- Criterion Channel
- Rent
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
- Buy
- Amazon Video, Apple TV Store, Google Play Movies, YouTube, Fandango At Home
Streaming options come from TMDB and change over time.
Common questions
- What is Ivan's Childhood about?
- A haunted Soviet boy scouts behind enemy lines while the adults around him struggle to preserve the childhood that war has already destroyed.
- What is Ivan's Childhood like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Ivan's Childhood as measured, its intensity as strong and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Ivan's Childhood violent?
- Somewhat. Ember rates the violence in Ivan's Childhood as moderate.
- What did critics think of Ivan's Childhood?
- Critics broadly regard the film as an internationally acclaimed, visually poetic and emotionally devastating war drama that establishes Andrei Tarkovsky’s signature artistic language.
- Which films are like Ivan's Childhood?
- Films with a similar feel include Come and See, The Cranes Are Flying, Hope and Glory, and The Ascent.
- How long is Ivan's Childhood?
- Ivan's Childhood runs 95 minutes.
- Where can I watch Ivan's Childhood?
- In United States, Ivan's Childhood streams on Criterion Channel.
