IDA

Ida a 2014 movie by filmmaker Pawel Pawlikowski has been playing at the Music Box. I was intrigue about the topic, the fact that it is a black & white film, and I was told that the shots were exquisite.
The movie takes place in 1962 Poland. The main character is a young novice about to take her vows where she is offered the opportunity to visit her aunt, the only survivor of her family. She reluctantly followed the suggestion and meets her maternal aunt and in doing so she learned that her real name was Ana and that she was jewish.
The movie is beautifully filmed and some shots are fabulous. "Ida" reminds me of the painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring by J. Vermeer.

She is the epitome of youth and innocence. She has grown up in a convent; all her life was sheltered away from the realities of the world. Meeting her aunt put her in direct contact with the past cruel reality of a world under Nazi's occupancy and the murder of her parents and brother.
The movie is a constant confrontation with the identity we grew into, the dichotomy of two worlds- one raw, painful, full of emotions and feelings, and the one full of religion's rules and regulations. One in constant conflict with our humanity and the other so shelter that never grows out of its cocoon.
At the end, the viewer toys with the question of what Ida/Ana will choose ...