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Ida (2014), PG-13, ★★★★

Anna as a nun.
The Holocaust is unquestionably one of the most horrifying events in history and many Jews have died for no unexplainable and unacceptable reason. However, when a descendant of a family is placed in some sort of hole and may know why is she placed in some sort of random gathering place or another family. This movie follows a character trying to find who she is and how and what happened to her parents and it is a fantastic and interesting journey to follow.

Anna (Agata Trezubuchowska) is a nun in 1963 who is called by the Mother Superior to tell her before she takes her vows, she has to visit her family. Anna travels by public transportation to visit her aunt Wanda (Agata Kuleska), who is a heavy-drinking judge and former prosecutor of the Stalinist regime for Polish anti-communist resistance soldiers. She shows Anna a picture of her family and as Wandas shows her brother in a picture. Anna objects but Wanda says that her real name is Ida and she is Jewish and her parents were killed in the war. Anna (or Ida) is shocked by the news but Wanda says that Anna is a red-head like her mother and she does.

Anna is motivated to find her parent's bodies, but Wanda says that all of the Jewish victims are buried all over the place and will never find them. They both start at Anna's family home where new family owners are occupying the house and the wife who is at the house at the moment denies any knowledge regarding any other prior family owners and shoos them away. Anna prays at the church to try to find the truth associating her parents and Anna herself.
The aunt and Anna looking at photos.
This is a remarkable film about an aunt and niece relationship that is original and refreshing as they contemplate about their different futures and talk about their past. As it draws closer and closer to the truth, it gets more interesting with ordinary characters that want to help them or encourage them to have a good time. For example, the sax player who is going to her father's town to celebrate the centennial is a metaphorical character as to how times change and we live happily at that moment as they endured tough times. Plus, as he and the band play, Anna refuses to go out and as Wanda returns to their room, it is implied that she has sex with a person from a bar and they discuss virtues in religious terms as Anna talks about Mary Magdalene and Jesus.

Both performances are excellent as we look upon their emotions, their body language and their eyes as they both struggle to identify with themselves and both are just ordinary characters that try to maintain their self-esteem. Plus, near the end, it goes into a very dark and different direction for Anna as she gets reacquainted with the sax player and it is mesmerizing how she handles her behavior towards the sax player and then goes back to her reality. Again, before, the sax players, I think, symbolizes how times change and probably how a character's personality changes.

The cinematography is crisp and the brilliant decision to change the film from color to black and white is appropriate referring to a dark subject that Anna is puzzled about and tries to solve. It was great to take the journey with them to solve a small puzzle in an otherwise big event in history. It is no doubt a remarkable film to behold.

****

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