Cold War (2018)

On Mondays, my cinema shows art house and indie movies but I don't go often as it usually shows movies that I'm not interested in seeing. This week's movie was Cold War (Polish: Zimna wojna) and, since I heard great things about and I was also curious to see if all the Foreign Language nominees are dreadful this year or if it's just Roma, I decided to go. 

Set in post-World War II Europe, mainly in Poland, from the late 1940s until the 1960s, the story follows Wiktor (Tomasz Kot), a musical director, and Zula (Joanna Kulig), a young singer with incredible talent, as they fall deeply, hopelessly in love. Forced to perform communist propaganda songs, they dream of escaping to the West and they soon have their shot in France. However, Zula misses it and over the years they will cross paths often.

Ida (2013)

Genre

Drama

Director

Paweł Pawlikowski

Country

Poland | Denmark

Cast

Agata Trzebuchowska, Agata Kulesza, Joanna Kulig Dawid Ogrodnik, Adam Szyszkowski, Jerzy Trela

Plot

Anna (Agata Trzebuchowska), a young novitiate nun in 1960s Poland, is on the verge of taking her vows when she discovers a dark family secret dating back to the years of the Nazi occupation.

Opinion

Despite its length - 82 minutes only -, Ida is an extremely well made and deep film, that describes female psychology. Paweł Pawlikowski made an extraordinary intimate drama, exploring the contradictions of faith and lay life, but also the tragic legacies of anti-Semitism.

The choice of shooting in black and white and using a 1.37:1 aspect ratio give more credibility to the story. 

The film is beautifully photographed by Łukasz Żal and Ryszard Lenczewski; the lyrical score by Kristian Eidnes Andersen is great.

The acting is outstanding. Agata Trzebuchowska plays Anna/Ida with such innocence and she speaks even when she is quiet. Agata Kulesza plays aunt Wanda incredibly, and most of the time she communicates through her facial expressions and body movements.

Quotes

Wanda: Do you have sinful thoughts sometimes?

Anna: Yes.

Wanda: About carnal love?

Anna: No.

Wanda: That's a shame. You should try... Otherwise what sort of sacrifice are these vows of yours.

Rating

9.0/10