Ida (2013)

An absolute masterpiece. In every aspect this film is wonderful. Polish-born director Pawel Pawlikowski’s own background drawn out to create the story of ‘Ida’ the film takes place in 1960s Poland and dates back to years of its German occupation where a secret has been hidden away. The story itself is amazing if you have any presumption you are wrong, if you took the narrative down a dead end it would still find a way to turn left, leaving us just asking how? Our two protagonists are Anna and Wanda who is her Aunt. As the story progresses we see the characters change and develop, again with throwing in that ‘left turn’ whenever we see a possible route which the characters could betake. The main thing about these two parts is that they have been so well cast. And with it being Agata Trzebuchowska (who plays Anna) film debut it makes it even more unbelievable.

The film is black and white throughout its entirety, and when it comes to cinematography, this factor just enhances it for me personally. There's no other word to describe it than beautiful, you could take a static from any second and it will be sensational. This really proves how important composition can be as a tool of storytelling. The contrast with the black and white is very high, which really makes black...black, and any bit of light has a massive contrast to create these portraits of the setting and characters we see. All of this from the colour to the framing and even the costuming allows the story to unfold in an exquisite, eccentric ways, as Anna encounters a search for her identity, it is delicate yet powerful. All of these aspects communicated to tell the story of her identity and prove an underlying essence of faith to herself.

Placing the narrative and cinematography together, it proves a massive contrast. The disturbance of the story is unveiled in a manner of beauty, which makes it authoritative and compelling as a piece of art. Again contrast is shown through the music played. We have jazz and classical put together as Ida explores the identities that are represented by the genres.

If you have the slightest interest in cinematography you must watch this film, every second it outstanding in every aspect, rather than being a wonderful film, it can better be described as a wonderful piece of art.