Ida is an exceptional film, also an unusual one. It's in black and white, has an old 4:3 ratio, has barely any camera movcement.
The Holocaust is the background of this story, yet it is a movie without yelling nazis and concentration camps. It is a film about identities -- and a very Polish one.
Poland in the 1960's. Anna is novice in a nunnery and about to take the vows. Her family perished during the Holocaust, but then an aunt announces herself and informs that Anna is actually a Jew and that her real name is Ida.
This aunt and Ida embark on a travel to find the burial place of Ida's parents. This aunt used to be a high-ranked communist and persecuted "enemies of the people". Now she is a heavy drinker, a bitter woman, having casual sex with whoever pleases her. The aunt makes attempts to talk Ida from taking the vows. Her argument is that she must know what she is renouncing before taking the vow. After they have found the mortal remains of her parents, Ida returns to the convent, but doesn't perform the ritual.
The aunt commits suicide; Ida tries the life style of her aunt, but returns finally to the convent.
In my view there are different issues with this film:
The identity conflict is not between Catholic and Jewish spirituality, between Christianity and Communism. In the 1960s it not surprising that Ida chooses the convent, as totalitarianism had nothing to offer. The fact that Ida is a Jew is actually pointless in the context of this film.
Ida is played like with angelic innocence by Agata Trzebuchowska. Every development, if any, is hidden behind the beatific appearance. I wished the script had given Ida an extra dimension. The life she is offered is definitely empty compared to her experiences in the convent. As her one-time lover announces what the future is going to be: "Don't know. Just life." This is, as we see, definitely not enough for Ida. But still, why can't Ida be more complex?
And to me it is very problematic that this film is made in 2013.and still presents the Catholic Church as a place of refuge. This is true from a historical POV, but NOW the church in Poland has herself become a suppressor in s democracy. An institution that shamelessly uses laws against blasphemy to promote her own reactionary agenda.
Nevertheless, this is still a great film, radical in its barren ascetic, proving that there are many more than 50 shades of grey.
6/10.
The Holocaust is the background of this story, yet it is a movie without yelling nazis and concentration camps. It is a film about identities -- and a very Polish one.
Poland in the 1960's. Anna is novice in a nunnery and about to take the vows. Her family perished during the Holocaust, but then an aunt announces herself and informs that Anna is actually a Jew and that her real name is Ida.
This aunt and Ida embark on a travel to find the burial place of Ida's parents. This aunt used to be a high-ranked communist and persecuted "enemies of the people". Now she is a heavy drinker, a bitter woman, having casual sex with whoever pleases her. The aunt makes attempts to talk Ida from taking the vows. Her argument is that she must know what she is renouncing before taking the vow. After they have found the mortal remains of her parents, Ida returns to the convent, but doesn't perform the ritual.
The aunt commits suicide; Ida tries the life style of her aunt, but returns finally to the convent.
In my view there are different issues with this film:
The identity conflict is not between Catholic and Jewish spirituality, between Christianity and Communism. In the 1960s it not surprising that Ida chooses the convent, as totalitarianism had nothing to offer. The fact that Ida is a Jew is actually pointless in the context of this film.
Ida is played like with angelic innocence by Agata Trzebuchowska. Every development, if any, is hidden behind the beatific appearance. I wished the script had given Ida an extra dimension. The life she is offered is definitely empty compared to her experiences in the convent. As her one-time lover announces what the future is going to be: "Don't know. Just life." This is, as we see, definitely not enough for Ida. But still, why can't Ida be more complex?
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| Musician Lis (Dawid Ogrodnik) offers Ida 'just life'. |
And to me it is very problematic that this film is made in 2013.and still presents the Catholic Church as a place of refuge. This is true from a historical POV, but NOW the church in Poland has herself become a suppressor in s democracy. An institution that shamelessly uses laws against blasphemy to promote her own reactionary agenda.
Nevertheless, this is still a great film, radical in its barren ascetic, proving that there are many more than 50 shades of grey.
6/10.
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| Ida is finding her own way. |
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