About This Film
The film is mainly set at the front during World War II, where the Soviet army is fighting the invading German Wehrmacht. The film features a non-linear plot with frequent flashbacks.
After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev, a 12-year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river. On the other side, he is seized by Russian soldiers and brought to the young Lieutenant Galtsev, who interrogates him. The boy insists that he call "Number 51 at Headquarters" and report his presence. Galtsev is reluctant, but when he eventually makes the call, he is told by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov to give the boy pencil and paper to make his report, which will be given the highest priority, and to treat him well. Through a series of dream sequences and conversations between different characters, it is revealed that Ivan’s mother and sister (and probably his father, a border guard) have been killed by German soldiers. He got away and joined a group of partisans. When the group was surrounded, they put him on a plane. After the escape, he was sent to a boarding school, but he ran away and joined an army unit under the command of Gryaznov.
Burning for revenge, Ivan insists on fighting on the front line. Taking advantage of his small size, he is successful on reconnaissance missions. Gryaznov and the other soldiers grow fond of him and want to send him to a military school. They give up their idea when Ivan tries to run away and rejoin the partisans. He is determined to avenge the death of his family and others, such as those killed at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp (which he mentions that he has seen).
A subplot involves Captain Kholin and his aggressive advances towards a pretty army nurse, Masha, and Galtsev's own undeclared and probably shared feelings for her. Much of the film is set in a room where the officers await orders and talk, while Ivan awaits his next mission. On the walls are scratched the last messages of doomed prisoners of the Germans.
Finally, Kholin and Galtsev ferry Ivan across the river late at night. He disappears through the swampy forest. The others return to the other shore after cutting down the bodies of two Soviet scouts hanged by the Germans.
The final scenes then switch to Berlin under Soviet occupation after the fall of the Third Reich. Captain Kholin has been killed in action. Galtsev finds a document showing that Ivan was caught and hanged by the Germans. As Galtsev enters the execution room, a final flashback of Ivan's childhood shows the young boy running across a beach after a little girl in happier times. The final image is of a dead tree on the beach.
After a brief dream sequence, Ivan Bondarev, a 12-year-old Russian boy, wakes up and crosses a war-torn landscape to a swamp, then swims across a river. On the other side, he is seized by Russian soldiers and brought to the young Lieutenant Galtsev, who interrogates him. The boy insists that he call "Number 51 at Headquarters" and report his presence. Galtsev is reluctant, but when he eventually makes the call, he is told by Lieutenant-Colonel Gryaznov to give the boy pencil and paper to make his report, which will be given the highest priority, and to treat him well. Through a series of dream sequences and conversations between different characters, it is revealed that Ivan’s mother and sister (and probably his father, a border guard) have been killed by German soldiers. He got away and joined a group of partisans. When the group was surrounded, they put him on a plane. After the escape, he was sent to a boarding school, but he ran away and joined an army unit under the command of Gryaznov.
Burning for revenge, Ivan insists on fighting on the front line. Taking advantage of his small size, he is successful on reconnaissance missions. Gryaznov and the other soldiers grow fond of him and want to send him to a military school. They give up their idea when Ivan tries to run away and rejoin the partisans. He is determined to avenge the death of his family and others, such as those killed at the Maly Trostenets extermination camp (which he mentions that he has seen).
A subplot involves Captain Kholin and his aggressive advances towards a pretty army nurse, Masha, and Galtsev's own undeclared and probably shared feelings for her. Much of the film is set in a room where the officers await orders and talk, while Ivan awaits his next mission. On the walls are scratched the last messages of doomed prisoners of the Germans.
Finally, Kholin and Galtsev ferry Ivan across the river late at night. He disappears through the swampy forest. The others return to the other shore after cutting down the bodies of two Soviet scouts hanged by the Germans.
The final scenes then switch to Berlin under Soviet occupation after the fall of the Third Reich. Captain Kholin has been killed in action. Galtsev finds a document showing that Ivan was caught and hanged by the Germans. As Galtsev enters the execution room, a final flashback of Ivan's childhood shows the young boy running across a beach after a little girl in happier times. The final image is of a dead tree on the beach.
Film Details
Director
Andrei Tarkovsky
Keywords
Revenge
Male Rear Nudity
Cigarette Smoking
Flashback
Chase
Kiss
Pistol
Knife
Shooting
Suicide
Dead Body
Beach
Fear
Voice Over Narration
Rifle
Brother Sister Relationship
Boat
Rear Nudity
Surrealism
Two Word Title
Boy
Girl
Flashlight
Forest
Woods
Horse
Old Man
Man Wears Eyeglasses
Spy
Bathtub
Hanging
Mother Son Relationship
Listening To Music
Mirror
Truck
Vengeance
Subjective Camera
Dream Sequence
Prologue
River
Swamp
Lie
Dream
Whistling
Rain
Swimming
American
Orphan
1940s
Rowboat
Letter
Running
Pursuit
Swastika
Execution
World War Two
Reference To God
Gunfire
Gramophone
Archive Footage
Mission
Battlefield
Nazi Soldier
Book
Bell
Cross
Narrated By Character
Espionage
Falling Into Water
Jumping Into Water
Food
Eating
Facial Scar
Well
Female Soldier
Captain
Capture
Death Of A Child
Murder Of Father
Commander
Barbed Wire
Magazine
Flare
Sleep
Based On Short Story
Directorial Debut
Murder Of A Family
Nude Young Male
Operation
Dead Child
Lantern
Rooster
German
Mud
Promise
Washing One's Face
Murder Of Sister
Childhood Memory
Windmill
Air Raid
Based On Novella
Star
Murder Of Wife
Cobweb
Periscope
Murder Of Mother
Reflection In A Mirror
Hiding Behind A Tree
Berlin Germany
Negative Footage
Anti War
Bare Chested Boy
Reconnaissance
12 Year Old
Covert Operation
Death Of Family
Running Away
Apple
Crossing A River
Marsh
Stove
Snowing
Running On A Beach
Climbing A Tree
Stubbornness
Lighting A Cigarette From A Cigarette
Nude Boy
Wehrmacht
Eastern Front
Feather
Artillery
Partisan
Nail
Crying Boy
Handshake
Dinghy
Man Boy Relationship
Falling Tree
Saying Goodbye
Identifying A Dead Body
Burned Corpse
Newsreel Footage
End Of War
Long Take
Dripping Water
Childhood
Child Spy
Great Patriotic War
Enemy Lines
Cold
Military School
Year 1943
Russian Soldier
Red Army
Soviet Soldier
Soviet Military
Female Medical Offier
Surrogate Father Surrogate Son Relationship
Lieutenant Colonel
Reference To A Military School
Barracks
Dnieper River
Art Book
Trench
Cuckoo Bird
Wading Through Water
Mobile Phone
Boy In A Bathtub
Man Carries A Boy In His Arms
Boy Kisses A Man On The Cheek
Man Kisses A Boy On The Cheek
Giving A Toast
Reference To Fyodorovka
Scout
Reference To Alexei Tolstoy
War Ruins
Chimney
Reference To A Chidren's Home
Kicking A Can
Threat To Whip
Reference To Lice
Female Lieutenant
Reference To Siberia
Reference To Moscow Russia
Reference To Vasily Surikov
Arachnophobia
Climbing A Fallen Tree
Asking For Forgiveness
Ex Collegemate Ex Collegemate Relationship
Engraving
German Stereotype
Reference To Burning Books
Gunner
Recording
Reference To A Border Guard
Reference To Adoption
Stealing A Boat
Writing On A Wall
Reference To A Boarding School
Reference To The Trostyanets Concentration Camp
Military Headquarters
Reverse Negative
Horse Eats An Apple
Boy Dresses
Child Soldier
Boy Soldier
Airplane Wreckage
Man Boy Embrace
Throwing A Stool
Tossing A Man Into The Air
Reference To Joseph Goebbels
Reference To Murder Suicide
End Of World War Two
Voice Over Dialogue
Smiling
Boy Wears A Swimsuit
Game Playing
Boy Wears Shorts
Bell Ringing
Slow Cinema
Tying One's Shoelaces
Male Undressing
Thinness
Stubborn Child
Reference To Martin Luther
Auditory Hallucination
Aspen
Young Spy
Devastated Landscape
Child Execution
Frontier
Reference To Potassium Cyanide
Also Known As
My Name Is Ivan, 伊凡的少年时代, Ivanovo otrostvo, Ivan'in çocuklugu, Ivanovo detinjstvo, Ta paidika hronia tou Ivan, Ivanes bavshvoba, Ivani lapsepõlv, De jeugd van Iwan, Original title: Ivanovo detstvo