Ida

Plot Summary

In 1960s Poland, a young novitiate nun encounters a long lost relative and discovers a dark family secret dating back to the terrible years of the Nazi occupation.On the eve of her vows, 18-year old Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a sheltered orphan raised in the convent, is tasked by the Mother Superior to visit her sole living relative, her estranged aunt Wanda (Agata Kulesza). A worldly and cynical Communist judge, Wanda shocks the naïve and innocent Anna with a stunning revelation: Anna is Jewish and her real name is Ida. Struggling to make sense of this new information, the two women embark on a heart-wrenching journey to uncover the mystery and fate of Ida's birth parents, leading them to an old family home that holds buried secrets and regrets from the past.Beautifully directed by acclaimed filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski (My Summer of Love) and stunningly photographed in arresting black and white, IDA is a masterly and personal evocation of time and defining human moments. A vital and cinematic exploration of postwar Poland, the moral and human costs of survival, and the potential and necessity for progress, IDA eloquently encapsulates the haunting legacy of the Holocaust through Anna/Ida's personal dilemma of how best to carry on in the face of a painful shared history.