Pawel Pawlikowski's beautifully-shot film 'Ida' is a sparse, yet unconventionally structured, film about a young nun's discovery of a hidden past in 1960s Poland. The Poles suffered terribly in World War Two, but the relationship of the Christian majority to their Jewish neighbours was complex and far from unsullied, and post-war, there was never a public accounting in the way that took place in the aggressor state of Germany. The film addresses the aftermath of this, and does so in an appropriately complex way.The style is familiar from Pawlikowski's other works, like 'Last Resort', and the aesthetic is powerful, even though it always seems a little like cheating to shoot a film set in the past in black-and-white (I should note that in his early works, Kieslowski used colour - and it's absence - wonderfully without resorting to monochrome). Perhaps it's the black-and-white which also reminded me of Jarmusch's 'Stranger than Paradise', although 'Ida' is less a self-conscious film. It won at the Oscars, although one senses that a film of this type can only win at the Academy in the category for foreign-language movies - American Oscar-winners are rarely this indirect and bare. Agata Trzebuchowska is good in the title role, but Agata Kulesza steals the show as her troubled aunt.

"In the end, everything is found to be wanting." - Frank Lentricchia, The Sadness of AntonioniSet in the post-World War II Poland, the film traverses the life events of a Christian orphan, nun-to-be – Ida, who just weeks before taking her oath meets her only living relative - a long-lost Jewish aunt - Wanda; and subsequently came along the unknown memories of a long- lost childhood. In their brief association, they travel to the countryside to know the whereabouts of her dead parents where Ida buries the tragedy of her murdered and much-unknown Jewish family along with the reasons of her own survival, thereby returning to her convent to continue her journey ahead, thus marking the necessary re-dissociation with her alcoholic, tramp-like, unstable aunt (the irony), but ends up having the very doubts towards her choice to abnegate the world. With a heavy heart, she decides not to take her oath; however, she wasn't alone – her aunt ends up taking drastic steps to rest her own doubts.In order to attend the funeral, Ida gets another opportunity to associate a little more with her unknown roots. She returns to the quarters of her then deceased aunt and is tempted to live nights with the philandering ways of her once only-living-relative – of liquor, smoking and men. She accepts the course of life coming her way - that of the materialistic world, full of carnal passion. Although, she seemed not herself and the next morning Ida leaves for her old life at the convent – to become the person that she sought out to be.The Polish film noir displays a distinctive story-telling and abstract cinematography. As we see Ida's world in "black and white" we realise that though all humans seem good and evil, they are not; instead they are 'ironically' different shades of grey - both good and evil. When the pious, untouched heart of a sister is tinged by them, she is bound to be attracted and even so - deviated from her path of renouncement. The life as we know it worked like a vaccine for a nun-to-be, and then this spiritually lost girl emerged out immune to all the attractions that the world could offer. Director Pawel Pawlokowski, who won the Academy Award for the Best Foreign Language film for this work, may have given his viewers a lot more than usual cinema experience to think of. Anna Trzebuchowska as Ida, is diminutively beautiful in her portrayal of a sister; however, Anna Kulesza as Ida's aunt is the most impressive amongst the cast with her alcoholic, drained out, yet fighter-like persona. "Subtly attractive; 7/10"

I don't know if the Polish foreign flick "Ida" deserved the Best Foreign Film Oscar last year, but Ida tell you that it was a moderate piece. Director Pawel Pawlikowski's movie stars Agata Trzebuchowska as Anna, a young nun who resides in a Polish covenant. Through circumstance, Anna finds out that her real name is Ida, that she is Jewish, and that her parents were killed in the war. Anna/Ida goes on a quest to find where her parents are buried, and she meets her reckless aunt Wanda, brilliantly played by Agata Kulesza. Both Ida and Wanda try to find some answers on what really happened to Ida's parents, and then... Ida not tell you some more, cause Ida know how angry one gets when they reveal movie spoilers. Anyways, Pawilkowski did not wowski me with his direction of the picture, but enough to moderately recommend it; if for no better reason, Kulesza's performance and the film's stunning cinematography. Maybe Ida see this movie again to capture more of it, but Ida tell you that it's not near the top of the best foreign films I have ever seen. I'm Ida here! *** Average

In a nutshell, I'd say that "Ida" is what one would call an "art" film. Nothing more. Nothing less.And, in being an "art" film - Because its story was delivered in such a bleak, dry, dull-edged and slow-paced fashion, I, personally, consider it to be a very poor example of the genre that it represents. This is the sort of film that could only appeal to a very small and select audience."Ida" is one of those films where (due to its completely barren storytelling), one finds their mind wandering to other matters as the story progresses at a literal snail's pace.Due to all of the unwarranted praise that "Ida" has garnered for itself - You can surely bet that had this stark, dead-end film been a Hollywood production no one would be giving it even the slightest bit of attention.But, just because "Ida" is a foreign production (from Poland) critics, and the likes, are literally falling all over themselves with praise and admiration for such a depressingly miserable picture as this.