Is one born a Jew? Jewish by religious education, cultural identification, nationality, genetics? If one isn't raised Jewish, is one still Jewish? 'What is a Jew?' is a question that continues to fascinate and torment both Jews and non-Jews -- and it's the focal point of Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski's film Ida.
Set in 1960s post-Holocaust Poland, this stunningly beautiful but haunting film introduces us to Ida, orphaned as a baby and on the cusp of taking her vows to become a nun -- until she meets her aunt and discovers the truth about her family.
Does this profoundly Catholic girl abandon her faith? Embrace her Jewishness? Or continue to live the only life she's really ever known? You'll have to find out for yourself.
Nevertheless, Ida does raise painful but profound questions about the fluidity of who we really are.
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