“Ida”, directed by Pawel Pawilkowski, is a little black and
white movie from Poland (and Denmark) in old 4:3 aspect ratio, and rather
simple images. In fact, life in
Communist Poland in 1962 offers more than one would expect. People have cars, farmland, fixer houses, and
go to jute boxes and nightclubs. Wanda
(Agata Kulesza) is a middle aged woman, a respected judge, with a loose life
style and dark secrets. Her niece, Anna
(Agata Trzebuchowska) is about to take her vows in a convent where life is very
plain. The mother superior insists that
Anna get to know her only known relative first.
Anna’s appearance is disruptive to Wanda, who must explore
their hidden Jewish background to find out what happened to Anna’s parents
during the Holocaust. Anna will come into contact with the idea of life outside
poverty. But this will be a lot for
Wanda to take, maybe too much.
The characters play music from the Mozart Jupiter Symphony
(41), on an old record player with a heavy tracking arm. That work was important to me in 1962, as I
often played Bruno Walter’s recording. I
saw the work as life-giving, but maybe it isn’t here. Other music, including some Bach and the Soviet anthem, come into play.
The official site is here from Music Box Films.
I saw the 80-minute film at the AMC Shirlington, early show
Wednesday night, before a sparse audience.
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