Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
Agata Kulesza | ... | Wanda | |
Agata Trzebuchowska | ... | Anna | |
Dawid Ogrodnik | ... | Lis | |
Jerzy Trela | ... | Szymon | |
Adam Szyszkowski | ... | Feliks | |
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Halina Skoczynska | ... | Mother Superior |
Joanna Kulig | ... | Singer | |
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Dorota Kuduk | ... | Kaska |
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Natalia Lagiewczyk | ... | Bronia |
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Afrodyta Weselak | ... | Marysia |
Mariusz Jakus | ... | Barman | |
Izabela Dabrowska | ... | Waitress | |
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Artur Janusiak | ... | Policeman |
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Anna Grzeszczak | ... | Neighbour |
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Jan Wojciech Poradowski | ... | Father Andrew (as Jan Wociech Poradowski) |
Poland, 1962. Anna, an orphan brought up by nuns in the convent, is a novice. She has to see Wanda, the only living relative, before she takes her vows. Wanda tells Anna about her Jewish roots. Both women start a journey not only to find their family's tragic story, but to see who they really are and where they belong. They question what they used to believe in. Written by Anonymous
This b&w film is engraved in my memory.
The producer told her audience at the Guanajuato International Film Festival (Mexico) that finding funding for a b&w film took a long time. How wise she and the director were to hold out because b&w gives the film its period feel (the events occur 1961-62).
The story, occasionally too linear, is believable overall, at times all too believable. Its subtext: coming of age, Communism's excesses in Poland, peasant-Jewish relations during the Holocaust, worldliness vs. faith. And yes, they all work.
The aunt is played by a justly renowned Polish actress, the novice nun by an amateur who despite the film's success in Poland doesn't want to continue to act.
I don't want to spill over into spoilers, will sum up by saying that viewers will see a complex film simply told, set during Poland's painful post-war years and a no-holds-barred look at how various Poles treated Jews during the Second World War.
Ida played to large audiences in Poland where the film was generally praised, despite receiving flak from a few detractors as either anti-Polish or anti-Jewish, a fact reinforcing my view that the film owes part of its power to avoiding stereotypes. A compelling, technically excellent film worth the care lavished on it.