Directed by Pawel Pawlikowski, Ida (2013), won the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year in 2015. Ida is a beautifully shot film that examines the atrocities that happened during World War II.
Set in the 1960s, Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska) is a 19-year-old nun in Poland who is set to take her vows but has no living family. One day her superior says that Anna’s aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza) has, at last, come forward and expressed an interest in meeting her. She discloses that their family is Jewish and that Anna’s real name is Ida.
To learn more about their past, they venture far into the countryside. Ida is curious about finding her parents’ graves. The twist is that Ida is Jewish and during the Nazi era, her parents were killed.
Ida and Wanda set out on a journey to their ancestral village where they encounter Lis, a young musician played by Dawid Ogrodnik. Unexpectedly, Wanda, who appears to be more distant, is also compelled to find her parents’ grave. They find out that Ida’s parents were buried in unmarked graves after being first hidden by villagers during World War II.
As the aunt and niece grow to know one another, their values and beliefs are challenged. Ida pursues a life of serving God while Wanda enjoys social prominence due to her communist principles formed during the war. However, both have open hearts that yearn for knowledge to fill.
The treatment of Jewish families during the war in Ida’s story is sad and the film touches on themes of support, finding identity, suppression, guilt and sorrow. One part of the film I particularly enjoyed was the music.
Ida, despite having a short plot, captures the horrors of war by using minimal dialogue and black-and-white cinematography. The black-and-white format adds to the tragic story.
Pawlikowski never gets into his characters’ private life and keeps his camera at a safe distance. To create a sort of cathedral effect, he kept them low in the frame with unusually large space above their heads.
Holocaust films are not easy to watch, yet the film gives an insight into the terrible happening that many had to endure during World War II. This indeed is a must-watch film.
