Ida Reviews

In fact, I was supposed to see this movie with my filmclub when it was released but, for some reasons, it was cancelled at the last minute and we watched instead the rather disappointing 'Anni Fellici'. Eventually, since I kept hearing some good things about this movie (it even won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language Film of the Year and it was included in the list '1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die' at some point), I was still eager to check the damned thing. Well, to be honest, even though it turned out to be a decent watch, I can't say it really blew away though. First of all, it was a good thing that I saw not so long 'Shoah' which gave a really detailed explanation on what happened during and after WWII in Poland so I already had a fair idea about what the characters were dealing with. Furthemore, the cinematography was really nice as well in some gorgeous black-and-white. Unfortunately, I’m afraid the story never really grabbed me. I mean, first of all, it is a rather short movie (barely 80 mins) and the main character barely talked at all during the whole thing so you never get the opportunity to get to know her. In fact, I thought that the Aunt was actually more interesting. Finally, I wasn't really sure what to make of the twist at the end. Basically, after everything she has learned and has been through during the whole thing, you would expect Ida to renounce to take her vows and, yet, she still goes through with it. In my opinion, it seriously came out of nowhere, as they never spoke about religion at all during the whole thing and since you never had the opportunity to get to learn Ida, I had no idea what she was really feeling or thinking. My best guess is that she had to go back to the convent as it was the best option after living all this misery and seeing how rotten our world has become. Anyway, to conclude, even though it didn't completely work for me, it was still a decent watch and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

In this brief account of painful polish themes:the sweet posession of an inminent nun, the corruption of good and bad people, the indolence of the witnesses, the uneasiness of judgement (the judge commits suicide). As if you were seeing the Wajda christ head down ("Ashes and diamonds"), without seeing it. After the hell and the life and the sex, the nun becomes nun. Thats the escape.