Released: 2013
Country: Poland
Genre: Drama
Rating: 5 out of 5
Review
''Ida'' is a beautiful and thought-provoking film. It is only an hour and twenty minutes long, but within that duration it manages to move us deeply.
The film is set in the 1960s, in Poland. The protagonist is Anna, played by Agata Trzebuchowska. Anna is a novice nun about to take her vows but is then informed that before taking her vows, she has to meet her only living relative, Wanda Gruz (played by Agata Kulesza), who happens to be her maternal aunt. Anna has never seen Wanda before, and when they meet, Wanda reveals that Anna's parents were actually Jews who were murdered during the World War II. She also reveals that Anna's actual name is Ida. Anna/Ida wants to know where her parents are buried. Together, Wanda and Ida make a journey that takes them back to the place where her (Ida's) parents used to stay, with the intention of knowing what happened to them. In this journey, Wanda and Ida go through realizations, self-discoveries and emotional upheavals.
Both actresses are brilliant in their roles. The film kept me intrigued from the time Ida and Wanda first met. But I had no idea about the direction the film was heading to. The journey the women go on turns out to be a journey of self-discovery and revelations. The revelations they come across leave a deep impact in both of them. They both have questions about their identities, their lives. The film also explores how the tragedies of the Holocaust left impacts in the minds- and lives- of people. Moving and hauntingly beautiful, ''Ida'' is a brilliant film.
Glad you enjoyed this one, but it didn't work for me at all. I found Anna/Ida an uninteresting character and her decisions didn't make sense, to me at least. It was also slow to the point of dullness. I think I would've enjoyed it more had the movie been about Wanda.
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