"Sister Ada" is such a film, the overall look is calm, even the story is simple enough to make people sleepy. If you don't step into it, it is indeed the case. But in fact, the inner rich meaning is shocking, and the rich inner layers of the characters are also shocking. It's a bit like "Sad Milk", with a compelling historical light under the calm lens, and both were selected for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.
In 1962, in a Polish monastery, Ada, who had lived in the monastery since childhood, was about to officially become a nun. Before the ceremony was held, in order to make Ada feel at ease to engage in the priesthood, the old nun in the monastery specially asked Ada to visit her aunt Wanda, in order to establish a worldly relationship. However, it was this trip that stirred up waves in Ada's heart. Wangzhang Hongchen allowed her to meet the cynical aunt and the band's saxophone player, and her original calm content produced an instant love for Hongchen. And this trip also allowed Ada to unlock his identity, and it also uncovered a scar in Polish history. And this scar is the place that attracts the most attention and the deep charm of "Sister Ada".
You know, Poland in 1962 was under the envelope of Soviet socialism and was a member of the Warsaw Pact of the socialist camp. I won’t say much about what socialist rule is like, you know. And the time goes a little further. In 1918, more than 120 years after Poland’s extinction, a new Poland with a geographical territory was finally established again, as the Second Republic of Poland. Unfortunately, the re-established Poland did not enjoy many comfortable days. First, it participated in the attack on Belarus and Ukraine, and fought with Soviet Russia for two years. Then there was a coup and the pro-German Piłsudski came to power. And actively seeking peace with Hitler, the two sides signed the "Pond Non-aggression Treaty." However, when the time came on September 1, 1939, Hitler still risked the world's disgrace, blatantly abandoned the treaty he had signed, launched a surprise attack on Poland, and occupied most of Poland in a short period of time, and the Second World War broke out. One year later, on September 17, 1940, the Soviet Union invaded from eastern Poland and divided Poland with Nazi Germany. After the conflicts between the Soviet Union and Germany were irreconcilable, World War II spread further, and Poland was finally occupied by Germany. The exiled Polish government was bullied by the Soviet Union, and the tragic "Katyn tragedy" broke out. By the end of World War II in 1944, Poland was regained again, but it lost 20% of its land area. The founding of the country was completely shrouded in the influence of the Soviet Union and became part of the socialist camp. It was not until 1989 that the Soviet-Eastern camp collapsed and Poland rebuilt the republic, which is now the Third Republic. The story of "Sister Ada" is in 1962, which is the period of socialism, which constitutes the background of the movie's time clues.
Let's start with the story line of the movie. In 1962, Ada left the monastery far away from the world to find her aunt Wanda, and then to find the bones of her parents. From a simple girl, the dark history of Poland is revealed little by little.
First, Ada finds Aunt Wanda, a successful prosecutor. Wanda was once a national hero, because he had hit many people who endangered national security and fascists who had hurt Poles. But since Poland entered the socialist camp in 1947, Lenin-Stalinism has fully affected the Polish people. As a civil servant, Wanda must accept Marxism-Leninism. Believe it or not, you must accept it. At this point, it is easier to understand for China, which is also in a socialist country. Even in the current China, the party constitution stipulates that as long as you join the party, you can only accept Marxism-Leninism, and you must give up other beliefs. Hui cadres. Do not believe in Islam, and Tibetan cadres shall not believe in Buddhism, etc. Of course, this is a rule. In fact, there are still some cadres who still maintain their beliefs in private, or that they have not completely betrayed their beliefs. The same is true for Wanda. Together with Ada, both of them are Jewish, and they are destined to believe in Judaism. But for the country, Wanda converted to Marxism-Leninism and became a national hero when he was young. It was only in 1962 that 15 years had passed since the socialist Poland. Moreover, as a country, Poland has just experienced the famous "Poznan Incident" (1956). In 1962, Poland was under the leadership of Gomulka. The Soviet model he followed led to serious material defects in the country. At this time, the Poles were living a poor life, and contradictions were accumulating. In 1970, serious bloodshed broke out.
In 1962, Wanda was middle-aged and his ideals were gone. He was completely disappointed in the country and no longer had any illusions about communism. But she betrayed her Judaism again, so she was lonely and helpless in the severe division between Communism and Judaism. She felt completely emptied and had nowhere to vent, so she chose to indulge herself, filling it with alcohol and sex constantly. Own, going further and further in decadence, unable to extricate himself. Until that day, she met her niece, Ada, who came to her door.
In Wanda, the conflict of beliefs has been expressed, and the crisis of belief in the entire country is expressed through Wanda and Ada, which constitutes one of the deep themes of the film. Wanda, who had already had communist beliefs, has developed to the point where his beliefs go bankrupt, and Judaism, which has been imposed on him since childhood, cannot go back. But when Wanda saw Ada, who was originally a Jew, but believed in Catholicism, his heart was filled with contempt and disdain, so that he mocked Ada everywhere. But Ada's purity and innocence infected Wanda again, so she tried her best to help Ada and took Ada to find the remains of Ada's parents. Once this obligation was fulfilled, Wanda felt completely nihilistic, and finally, on an ordinary day, chose to jump downstairs.
For Ada, going out from the monastery to visit her aunt, from ignorance of her own life, she suddenly found out that she was a Jew, and then she learned that her parents were killed in the Holocaust before and after World War II. People who were killed in. The filial piety as a child urged her to find out the truth about the death of her parents, and find the bones of her parents for burial, so that the spirit of heaven can rest in peace. Furthermore, with the assistance of Wanda, he searched all the way. And in the process, I saw the indulgence of my aunt, and at the same time met the handsome saxophone player of the band. This body is the red dust, and Ada finally followed in the footsteps of Wanda and chose to indulge once. Before truly converting to Catholicism, she truly experienced the indulgence and happiness in the red dust. High heels, lipstick, long skirts, dancing, sex, some experience made Ada more bold and less regrettable when she went to take refuge. This is a way of expressing religious themes in movies.
Also know that under the rule of socialism, free religious belief is very difficult, you know the reasons. Because Poland is originally a country with a strong religious atmosphere, 95% of the population believes in Catholicism, even if socialists occupy the dominant position, they have not dared to completely sever the religious beliefs of the people. However, the conflict of beliefs between Catholicism and Communism really exists, and it troubles people like Wanda. For Ada, there is more conflict between Judaism and Catholicism. Ada and Wanda, the two beliefs added together, reflect the crisis of faith in the Polish state of that era. This constitutes another pole of the film's deep contradictions, and it is a very important pole.
But the death of Ada's parents constitutes another theme. That is the trauma of World War II and the Holocaust. Although Jews constitute only a minority of Poland’s many populations, the total number is 3.5 million. Under the Jewish genocide of World War II, 90% of Polish Jews were killed, and only 1/12 of them fled, staying here and staying there. Only about 70,000 Jews survived. You know, Auschwitz, the concentration camp that killed the most Jews during World War II, was located in Poland. Moreover, the most unacceptable thing is that not all the Jews were murdered by the Nazi Party, and quite a few French and Poles were accomplices. In "Sister Ada", the murderers who killed Ada's parents were not the Nazis, but the natives of Poland. They not only killed Ada's parents, but also occupied their house. This is also among the excellence of "Sister Ada". It does not simply talk about the crimes of history and pushes it to the Nazis, but directly expresses the current cowardly Polish peasants, who were the murderers of the Jews and the Polish nation. The scars showed up directly. The so-called genocide is closer to the internal friction of the Poles. In the face of war, no one is clean.
The Jewish Holocaust, the inferiority of the nation, the failure of the socialist experiment, the bankruptcy of communism, and the crisis of faith are intertwined together to form the profound movie theme of "Sister Ada". But all of this is not so obvious in performance, but the director’s special film aesthetics and otherworldly aesthetic style make the whole film look calm, without conflicts, everything looks calm and peaceful. Jing, only when I savor it carefully, I feel that all the shots are not peaceful, and the unabashed revelation of the wounds of history also makes people seem more thoughtful. Such a film is really very rare. It's a bit like "Scorching Sun" and "Sad Milk". Both films have become classics, and I believe "Nun Ada" will also be.
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