Co-written by Mikhail Papava, Andrei Konchalovsky and an uncredited Tarkovsky, it is based on Vladimir Bogomolov's 1957 short story "Ivan".

[6] Famous filmmakers such as Ingmar Bergman, Sergei Parajanov and Krzysztof Kieślowski praised the film and cited it as an influence on their work.

[7] 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.

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.

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 film is based on the 1957 short story "Ivan" (Russian: Иван) by Vladimir Bogomolov, which was translated into more than twenty languages.

It drew the attention of the screenwriter Mikhail Papava, who changed the story line and made Ivan more of a hero.

Konchalovsky was a friend and fellow student of Tarkovsky at the State Institute of Cinematography (VGIK), and thus Burlyayev was also cast for the role of Ivan.

Before the film’s release, the Stalinist viewpoint on war cinema in the 1930s and 40s was that of instrumentalizing nature as a means to serve human agency in context of violence.

Ivan's Childhood is produced during the stagnating period of Khrushchev thaw, and as a result instead is considered pioneer in its use of extensive and predominant representation of nature.

Furthermore, Tarkovsky’s framing of nature in tracking shots was also intended as visual poetry adding a layer of artistic elegance to the film.

[11] Tarkovsky himself was displeased with some aspects of the film; in his book Sculpting in Time, he writes at length about subtle changes to certain scenes that he regrets not implementing.

[15] In a later interview, Tarkovsky (who did not consider the film to be among his best work) admitted to agreeing with Moravia's criticisms at the time, finding Sartre's defense "too philosophical and speculative".

The newest version was highly praised by The Independent who called it "The most lyrical war movie ever made pristinely restored".