Ivan's Adulthood

Ivan's Childhood is a very interesting film. It is Tarkovsky's first full feature film, and like his others, is jam-packed with symbolism and cinematography. This movie starts in a dream. The first thing that we see is Ivan's face. He starts to run around and we see a deer and a butterfly and he begins to fly. I believe that this is symbolic of his innocence. He then lands and is lost for a moment, when he finds his mother by a well. They laugh together until we hear an explosion and his mother's face becomes afraid. I feel that beginning the whole movie with this dream is very symbolic of Ivan's innocence and how it is taken away. It is an excellent way to show us that Ivan is no longer a child.
The dream then cuts to Ivan crawling through water until he is swimming through a river. Water is constantly present in this film. We next see Ivan being brought into a room because he is  caught. I think that this scene is very interesting because we do not get to see any of the adult's faces until the light is turned on and Ivan can see them. I like how the majority of this film is shot from Ivan's perspective. Ivan comes across as very mature in reality. He has seen a lot in all of his short years. All of the generals are very much so father figures to Ivan. The film ends with the audience finding out that Ivan is dead. It then goes to a 'dream' where Ivan is on a beach playing with a girl and his mom is there. The camera zooms in to a dead tree.
The symbolism in this film is everywhere. Tarkovsky uses many different things, such as camera angles, water, fire, mirrors, and religious symbols. In one scene, we see a religious icon right after the first explosion of many, and when the explosions end we see a cross in a field. We see this cross several other times.
This film is very symbolic of war and the trials it can put children through.