Film Notes: Ida

I've seen a few films recently, most of which were okay, some of which were overrated, none of which I thought were worthy of a review. Then yesterday I saw 'Ida'. I had bought the disk a long time ago, but somehow with time being short, it never made it to the top of the pile; until now. If I had known how good it was, I would have watched it an age ago.

The story (without too many plot-spoilers), concerns a young Polish girl who is about to take her vows and become a nun. Convent life has been all she has known, as she was an orphan, brought up by the sisters. The opening scenes see young Ida, at work in the practical and ceremonial rigours of the convent. The plot centres around Ida's farewell visit to her family - in this case her sole known relative, an aunt. The aunt is deeply opposed to Ida's religion, and in fact has been a member of the Stalinist hierarchy running postwar Poland. Her aunt's scepticism does not trouble Ida, so much as the discovery that she was orphaned because her parents were murdered during the Nazi occupation of Poland; and that she had a historic Jewish identity, to compete with her experienced Roman Catholic one. The story involves Ida's discovery of her past and navigating, (in the company of her disturbing aunt) the pleasures available outside the confines of the cloistered life; however it centres on her personal struggle to work out her identity. Central to this, is the decision she faces about whether to take her vows and "marry" Jesus, as a nun - or to become joined to the outside world.

The setting in the early Soviet-era in Poland are amazingly created, the gritty black and white filming adds a retro-feel which when combined leaves the viewer wondering if this is actually a recent film- or is in fact decades old. It is visually stunning. The other thing about the direction which is so striking is that it is never hurried, the characters are allowed to breathe, and the studies of the faces of the central protagonists are unnervingly powerful. In one scene for instance, the viewer is being asked to understand that while every other nun and novice is totally compliant; Ida is beginning to ask questions. This is conveyed not through an obvious-but-cheesy dialogue, but through a study of faces. Every head remains fixed in concentration in their prayer book; except Ida, who risks a brief glimpse up: a picture worth a thousand or more words. 

Agata Trzebuchowska is quite remarkable in her performance as the young Polish-Jewish-Catholic girl, for which she quite rightly garnered a host of awards. Amazingly it seems as if Ida has been her only film credit. Agata Kulesza plays the aunt, "Red Wanda", and is also first-rate too; as she plays a woman haunted by the past, lost in the present, and spiralling downwards into her future.

Together, the filming, directing and acting create a film which is gripping, moving, dark, and thoughtful.

Of course, the tension between what makes us who we are: nature or nurture, is in full view in this film. The protagonist here seems to have the final vote, and will have to chose between chapel and synagogue, priest and rabbi, nurture or nature. As neither a Catholic nor a Jew, I felt like a neutral, outside observer to this inner struggle. There is also though the added dynamic of secular hedonism adding a third option which adds a nice complexity to the story, which I could relate to in terms of its power to lure one away from identity and values 

The media seems to be fascinated today with the question of identity, found in programmes like Who Do You Think You Are? in which celebrities unearth their ancestry. Genealogy hunting and family-tree recording has never been more popular either. All the while geneticists and psychologists debate whose field most fully explains human behaviour. Some people find discovering their ancestry profoundly revealing, and they find a sense of place, and belonging. To others, it is an utter irrelevance, what matters to them is the present alone. The comedian Mark Steel has a wonderful stand-up show entitled "Who Do I Think I Am?", in which he speaks (with his customary wit and irreverence), about tracing his biological parents; and seeing if there are any traces of his genes in his personality; or whether who he had turned out to be is modelled more closely on his adoptive parents. The results are fascinating, and well worth a listen. The BBC iPlayer sometimes has this show on it, it is not up presently, but maybe again at some point. In short though, he seems very much the child of his adopted parents except for a few alarming traits which seems to have been, in part at least, genetic. He seems happy to acknowledge these, but on the question of identity, doesn't seem to rest on his genetic history at all - bizarre and surprising as it turned out to be (another spoiler I shall spare you).

In Ida, the film comes to a series of conclusions, ultimately Ida decides which of the paths before her is the right one. The ruins of the past are laid to rest, her sampling of the different options available to her is made, and she walks into her future.

Ida is an exceptionally thought-provoking film; and it is a thing of great beauty to watch too. The real test of a film, though, is whether the characterisation is strong enough that the viewer is drawn in enough to actually care what happens to them. Agata Trzebuchowska's Ida, is so well drawn that I for one, felt stirred by her plight, sorrow at the discoveries she makes, and the losses she endures - and fascinated by her choices. What lingers in my mind, are the striking black and white images of postwar Poland, of the Convent, the grave-side, the disintegrating Aunt, and the minimal but powerful expressions on Ida's face.