Product: My Name Is Ivan [VHS] (1963)
Rating: 4.0
Children of war
Ivan's Childhood often amazes with the fluidity of its camerawork, its wonderful use of sound and its matter of fact depiction of war - not the moments of combat that make up only a tiny part of the experience, but the moments between, where people try to catch whatever they can, be it love, hope, memories or just sleep. It's a simple tale extraordinarily well told, and if the sudden leap in chronology at the end is jarring, the result is nonetheless very moving. Even the fantasy/memory scenes of a nature more vivid that the burnt out husk or swamps of war are beautifully handled, and it's easy to see this being a major influence on Spielberg's most underrated film, Empire of the Sun.Very impressive indeed, it's a surprise to learn that the film was shot on an ultra-low budget because another director and cast had used up half the budget before their version was scrubbed, only for Kruschev's disapproval to limit the film's Russian release while it was conquering the arthouses worldwide.Criterion's DVD includes good interviews with star Nikolai Burlyaev and cinematographer Vadim Yusov but doesn't include the Russian WW2 newsreel footage on the Russico/Artificial Eye PAL DVD.