A compact masterpiece that uses silence to confront the ghosts of Polish history
In short: Set in 1962, Paweł Pawlikowski’s Ida follows a young novice nun who discovers her Jewish heritage and the dark secrets of her family’s wartime past. Filmed in stark black and white, this Academy Award-winning drama uses silence and precise composition to explore guilt, violence, and the weight of history.
Ida tells the story of Anna, a young woman preparing to take her vows, who learns from her aunt, Wanda Gruz, that she is actually Ida Lebenstein. Her parents were murdered during the German occupation of World War II, and she was hidden in a convent to survive. The two women embark on a road trip to uncover the truth about their family’s fate, leading them to a farmer who admits to killing the Lebensteins to seize their home.
The film is celebrated for its stylistic austerity, utilizing a 4:3 aspect ratio and black-and-white cinematography to evoke the atmosphere of early 1960s Polish cinema. Director Paweł Pawlikowski, who co-wrote the script with Rebecca Lenkiewicz, drew inspiration for the character of Wanda from Helena Wolińska-Brus, a Stalinist-era prosecutor. The film’s visual language, designed by cinematographers Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski, forces viewers to engage with the narrative in an unconventional, contemplative way.
Despite its critical acclaim—including an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2015—Ida sparked controversy in Poland. Nationalists criticized the film for its portrayal of Christian-Jewish relations, with some demanding explanatory title cards to note that many Poles were executed for helping Jews. Others argued that the character of Wanda, a former communist resistance fighter and state prosecutor, unfairly perpetuated stereotypes about Jewish collaboration with the Soviet-sponsored regime. Pawlikowski, however, maintained that the film was an attempt to recover the Poland of his childhood, building the country’s traumatic history into the very atmosphere of the film without explicitly stating it.
Opens the Intellect+ feed with this card first. Swipe up for the next one.
Sources
- Summary by Intellect · source: Ida (film)
- Also: Wikidata — Ida · CC0
To cite this card, link to https://intellectplus.co.uk/app/entertainment-ida-film.
How we source, check and correct cards: Editorial standards.
General information, not professional advice. Spotted an error? Flag the card or see corrections and complaints.
Intellect Plus is a visual educational discovery platform for exploring fascinating facts and ideas. Brain Food, Not Brain Rot. What is Intellect Plus?
Related
More in Films · More in Entertainment · Latest · A–Z · All topics
