It’s not often that celebrities in the caliber of Jean-Paul Sartre write articles in defense of a filmmaker’s first post-graduate production.

Andrei Tarkovsky – a particularly prolific and controversial Soviet director who was known for his politically-rebellious, metaphysical and highly symbolic pictures, as well as his eventual exile – had to start somewhere. As a recent graduate of film school, he had not yet had the name or funding to pursue his own unconventional form of filmmaking and had to adhere to the cultural norm – which Criterion DVD commentator Vida T. Johnson dubbed “Soviet Realism.”

So, when offered to take over “Ivan’s Childhood” after the dismissal of its previous director, he hungrily jumped at the chance, but not without bestowing his own unique stamp of approval.

This was Tarkovsky’s great attempt at propaganda-filled realism. Needless to say, the result was hardly satisfactory to the requirements, but more than fulfilling cinema.

So when an Italian newspaper criticized the work, the likes of Sartre, Ingmar Bergman and other established cultural icons readily jumped to the defense.

The plot takes place at some point during the Second World War, focusing on 12-year-old orphan Ivan (Nikolai Burlyayev), who impetuously acts as a scout for the local troops. He is able to fulfill these missions with greater success than the soldiers due to his size and unassuming age. Eventually, the enemy catches up.

The story may sound touching – though ultimately forgettable – but it’s Tarkovsky’s subtle touch of symbolic depth that makes it truly memorable and one-of-a-kind. When Ivan has a dream of his mother explaining that one sees stars in a well because it’s “nighttime” there, and the camera immediately pans inside the well before Ivan awakens, we get a distinct understanding that this is the “nighttime” in his childhood – or perhaps for the country, or the world.

Another scene depicts a dream in which his dead sister hides behind a dead tree as he searches for her during a game of hide-and-seek. She runs away, but he surpasses her. Ivan is chasing death.

And this is the beauty of Tarkovsky’s works. They feel as though great literature come to life. All the symbolism, the depth, the metaphysics is there – but it’s animated. The pictures are incredibly real and quite moving.

So maybe “realism” didn’t quite work out, but if it did, “Ivan’s Childhood” would not have been a work of art.

Throughout the story, the director continues to innovatively use sight and sound – fire mingled with water. There are many candles and bells – all Tarkovsky trademarks. Horses, his symbol for life, only appear in the idyllic dream sequences, in contrast to the industrial ruin that is the waking world.

An ominous message on the way consistently shouts in Ivan’s head. According to Johnson, Tarkovsky made a vow to never isolate sound to conventional use – since it has become available since the silent film era, it should be used more stylistically than a simple crutch to help tell a story.

The acting is simply compelling. Burlyaev’s depiction of the tortured, raging youth is almost definitive of pathos. We see his pain – his anger – and while we understand it, we cannot help but desperately vie against it. Here is a child who – more than anything else – wants to die; but if he does, he’ll take as many Nazis with him as possible.

DVD features include the aforementioned interview with Johnson, as well as video interviews with an adult Burlyaev and the film’s cinematographer, Vadim Yusov.

The aftertaste of “Ivan’s Childhood” is quite strange. Although the film is certainly tragic in nature, it does not leave its viewer in the throes of pangs. Instead, like any commendable work of philosophy, it mesmerizes.

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