At its centre is an orphaned 12-year-old scout whose lost childhood is repeatedly invoked in a dazzling series of dream scenes. The rest of the film avoids action movie heroics in favour of an intense study of the tensions assailing a group of soldiers during the dead time between missions. The lyrical but claustrophobic weight of the film's forest setting is perhaps its most memorable element. One of the cinema's great war movies, Ivan's Childhood won its director notice in the West by being awarded the Golden Lion at Venice.