Ivan's Childhood (1962) by Andrei Tarkovsky — Film Discussion

The debut feature by the great Andrei Tarkovsky, Ivan’s Childhood is a poetic journey through the shards and shadows of one boy’s war-ravaged youth. Moving back and forth between the traumatic realities of World War II and serene moments of family life before the conflict began, Tarkovsky’s film remains one of the most jarring and unforgettable depictions of the impact of war on children. (Criterion)

This film seems to us to be specifically Russian. The technique is certainly Russian, although in itself it is original. We, in the occident, know how to appreciate the rapid and elliptic rythm of Godard, the protoplasmic slowness of Antonioni. But the novelty is to see these two movements in a metteur-en-scene who is inspired by neither of the two authors, but who wanted to live the time of war in its unbearable sluggishness and, in the same film, to take a jump from one epoch to the other with the elliptic rapidity of history (I am thinking in particular of the admirable contrast between these two sequences: the river and the Reichstag), without developing the plot, abandoning the characters to a certain moment of their life, for rediscovering them in another moment, or in the moment of their death. (Sartre)
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You can watch Ivan's Childhood directed by Andrei Tarkovsky here. Please watch in advance.
It is also advised that you read J.P.Sartre's essay on the movie.
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We all seek meaning in our lives and dread futility. Philosophy doesn't provide facile answers, but the philosophical quest to make sense of our fleeting lives is one that we all share.

This group explores answers by discussing not only philosophical writing, but also literature and film.