Ida (2013)

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'Ida' was a wonderfully understated coming of age, discovery story. From acclaimed Polish-British director Pawel Pawlikowski we were thrown back to 1962 with black and white footage and a recovering post-war Poland. Ida is about to take her vows as a nun having been raised in a convent before meeting her only surviving relative and discovering that she is in fact Jewish and that all of her family are dead. Ida narrowly escaped the same fate, being only an infant and unidentifiable as Jewish and so, Ida and her aunt, set off on a journey to find out what happened to their relatives and what it means for them.

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There are a few stylistic choices within the film that I'm not sure I understood. For example, the many shots framed so that the action took place right at the bottom of the screen with five times the head room above it. I'm not sure what it was symbolising, was it the masses of information they still had to find out about their family, was it to make our characters seem small in a much bigger world, was it the weight of what lay ahead of them pushing down on them, or was it just an artistic choice? Who knows, but it was an interesting new perspective.

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The power of 'Ida' was more in the silences than in what is said. The script is subtle, the emotion hidden, it is left for us the audience, to determine. It does not over indulge in moments. We never see the reaction from the elderly man that hid their family after he has been accused of killing them. We never revisit his son whom killed the family once he has shown Ida and her aunt where they were buried. We don't dwell too long on missed moments which is remarkably innovative in a film where these moments of discovery are the motives of our two main characters.

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Similarly though, I'm still not sure if I liked this or if I hated it, but we don't dwell on the fact that we never really know anything about the family. Only that they were Jewish, they were hidden in a barn and then killed in the woods. We instead dreamt up the personalities of our victims for ourselves. But perhaps Pawel Pawlikowski was making a post-war statement, that no-one remembered who our victims were before they became victims. The generation and identity of so many, was lost. We can draw whatever meaning we wish from the films stylistic choices and subtlety, and I think that is perhaps why I like it so much. You could watch it in a cinema and everyone could take away something different. It's nice to have a bit of ambiguity on screen for a change.

 The only part of the film I was frustrated by, is not knowing. We don't know what goes on inside Ida's head. We don't ever hear her vocalise her reactions, even as she mourns and belatedly takes on her aunts advice and experiences life before she vows to sacrifice it. But the final scene doe not give anything away. She walks towards the convent, we think, and will now take her vows...but will she? What will become of Ida? I wanted to know!

We may never know, but the subtlety and haunting nature of 'Ida' will stay with me for some time. I will definitely watch it again soon, to see what more I can decipher from the silence.