Ida and the American Cultural Experience
Cigarette in hand, eyes flitting up from a seductive gaze, flattering, sexy skirt, and hair in luscious, free flowing waves.
Yes, the image of the idealized, independent woman. She fights norms set by society, answers to no one other than herself, and men. Men gawk at her. They see how different she is.
Set in Poland in 1962, Ida, a drama directed by Pawel Pawlikowski follows a young lady through a quest to find her family and reclaim her past. During the German occupation of Poland during World War II, her Jewish family was murdered, leaving her orphaned on the steps of a convent. Before taking her vows, Ida travels to find her only living relative, her aunt Wanda, previously a state prosecutor and currently a lover of worldly pleasures. She meets men, is exposed to the notion of this modern woman, and the trajectory of her life takes a turn.
The film, released in September of 2013, becomes wildly successful, earning the 2015 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, becoming the first Polish film to do so, along with being nominated at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and the International Press Academy at the 19th Satellite Awards.
Although it is undeniable that the internationally acclaimed film, Ida, translated well for American viewers as it follows Anna, later known as Ida, through her path to her self and value discovery, the film’s true draw is specifically through its reflection on Ida’s rediscovery of her generational trauma and reclaiming of her historical past, similar to minority and culturally repressed American youths’ search to fight cultural homogeneity.
During the 1960s in Poland, the post-Stalin communist era was at the forefront, with more liberal sectors of the communists pushing for partial democratization. In fact, near the end of the decade, people were “calling for freedom of speech, science and culture, as well as liquidation of censorship.” Alongside this want for more freedoms came the desire from women to become more equal as well. The push for feminism brought about the image of the independent woman.
In 1989 came an era of “retraditionalization,” in which women were “pushed out of positions of power, deprived of many social services, discriminated against at work, often quite brutally,” taking a turn for the worse. Now, women suffer from being a minority in positions of power, taking a back seat when compared to their standing during the communist era.
In Ida, a clear distinction is set between her and her aunt, Wanda. In the first 10 minutes of the film, this separation is made crudely evident. Wanda is shown with a cigarette in her hand, wearing a v-neck dress, and her hair styled. She’s leaning against a window with the light illuminating her figure. On the other side of the screen, Ida sits, engulfed in the shadows. Her habit is fully on and her hands are held in front of her, folded and neat. This scene is of one of the earliest interactions between the two women: Ida is seen as the sheltered lady while Wanda is a free, strong-willed woman. During this interaction, Wanda both tells Ida of her Jewish heritage and encourages Ida to sin and enjoy worldly pleasures before having to take her vows.
Eventually, nearing the end of the movie, Ida decides to listen to her aunt. Ida is shown through a mirror, hair slicked back in an endearing style, and she is lighting a cigarette. The cigarette becomes synonymous with becoming a modern woman like her aunt. She no longer dons her habit and instead is loose, lax, and unrestrained. By displaying this image through a mirror, it’s evident that she’s finding and seeing her true self for the first time. She’s looking into the mirror and is finally able to see clearly what is reflected back. Ida then goes and finds her lover, a new woman.
To both Polish viewers and American viewers alike, the draw of finding one’s identity and liberating oneself is clear. With the stricter environment and regression regarding women’s rights in Poland, women are able to relate to Ida’s attempts at making her own choices. To Americans, the appeal is similar: a woman freeing herself from the limitations brought by faith and becoming an independent being. Ida is the success story both Polish and American women look towards. The obstacles in one’s life can be overcome, and Ida is a prime example of this success.
But what likely appeals to the American audience is a more niche aspect of the film. Ida’s hunt to find her parents’ burial site and learn what happened to her parents reflects minority American youths’ attempts and efforts at reclaiming their past and heritage. Reclaiming of a culture could mean unearthing practices that were lost over generations for immigrant youths or understanding and embracing repressed cultures like for those of African Americans and Native Americans.
Ida is raised as a Christian and plans on taking her vows and becoming a Catholic nun. After she visits her aunt, however, she eventually learns that her parents were, indeed, Jewish. Ida then goes on a hunt to find her parents’ grave, yearning to know and understand more about her past. Her parents’ whereabouts are unknown, but a long process yields results: Ida’s parents and Wanda’s son were killed and buried in the woods. Because Ida was able to pass for a Christian, she was saved and given to a convent, but Wanda’s son and Ida’s parents were unable to pass for Christian, and they had to be killed.
Ida’s cultural history and identity were buried alongside her parents. With the passing of time and the happenings accompanying anti-Semitism in Poland, Ida’s reality was effectively rewritten. Similarly, many second or third-generation immigrants to the United States experience what is known as “intergenerational cultural dissonance,” a clash between the cultural values of those growing up in a new cultural environment and their parents. As a second-generation immigrant, I, myself, feel the need to reclaim the habits and family traditions that my parents tried to instill in me as a child, but I failed to retain them as I grew older. Time draws lines between generations, effectively losing parts and pieces of previous generations’ identities along with them.
With this lack of uniformity in cultural understanding, kids are left attempting to identify themselves in terms of both their heritage and upbringing, asking questions about race and ethnicity to define themselves. Moreover, specifically in America, the resonance to Ida’s journey through recovering a repressed background is reflected in the experiences of those who were systematically repressed. Ida’s family was killed in an attempt to extradite Jews from Poland, and in America, many youths’ histories were repressed in similar experiences. A textbook example of this is with the Native Americans: “Native Americans were confined to reservations, the federal government engaged in a cultural assimilation campaign.” Limitations on language, beliefs, and names simultaneously limited culture being passed down through generations. In this way, Ida creates a connection with younger generations dealing with the effects of pasts repressed to reach an ideal of homogeneity.
The success of Ida in the United States reflects how our inner search for meaning and a sense of self does not stop at country borders. Ida’s path to finding herself, and specifically her search for recovering her generational history, resonates especially with young, minority American viewers' search to reclaim their past. Within the push for cultural sameness, minorities focus on the diversification of their generation and reclaiming what’s been lost with time.
