Polish Film IDA-She Ain't No Saint or Knew She was a Jew

Dir. Pavel Pawlikowski, (b. Poland) raised in Britain has made a startling Polish film.  Pawlikowski's  ("My Summer of Love")  film IDA is set in Poland, 1962.  Anna, a young woman raised in a convent is preparing to take her vows.  The Head of the convent calls Anna in & is told she has an aunt, her only living relative whom she must visit as a pre-requisite to making her final vows.  Anna has led a sheltered, austere life in the convent and is ill prepared for the outside world.  She is dazed to learn from her aunt, a former prosecutor & Communist Party Member of her true identity as a Jew named Ida.  Together, they search to discover Ida's history & their family's fate during WWII.  The film is beautifully shot in sharp monochromatic cinematography which gives it an authentic period feel.  Together the the newly reunited aunt & niece set off to uncover the dark truth to their family's disappearance.  As they seek out truths the comparisons between atheism & religion, solemnity & hedonism are drawn.  This is a poignant film of sexual awakening & soul searching.  IDA is a contemplative work of art punctuated with brutality and the hypnotic music of John Coltrane.  It is also shrouded in mystical layers that linger over this spellbinding film.