Ivan's Childhood

I really enjoyed the beginning part of class today when we had the chance to sing the songs. I never predicted any Russian music to sound the way it has today. I feel like I am learning a lot of Russian words that I will put to good use when I visit Moscow in the summer.
The film Ivan's Childhood and The Mirror had significant improvements in my perspective. I really enjoyed watching Ivan and his brave character throughout the movie. He was not afraid of anyone or to stand up for himself. I found it interesting that he did not want to attend school but rather stay and fight on the front. The little boy who played Ivan's character did a great job acting and being so bold especially to the soldiers. I enjoyed this film much more than The Mirror because it actually had a set plot and did not show different shots that jumped back and forth. Tarkovsky used many of the same weird shots and angles just like he did in the other film. I noticed that he paid a lot of attention to detail on some of the shots that we watched. I had mixed feelings about the ending of the film. I liked it because it showed how they had a victory but then it also showed the struggles on the Russian side. After watching both movies now I get the feeling of why Tarkovsky's work is considered genius.