Kieslowski's Dekalog

Each of the ten films within Krzysztof Kieslowski's Dekalog is related to one of the Ten Commandments. Far from tending toward the moralistic, each of the films is presented in a manner that demonstrates the difficulty for humans of leading moral lives in the shadow of the Ten Commandments. The father in Dekalog 1 ("Thou shalt have no other gods before me") puts all his faith in science over God, with devastating consequences. All of the films occur in or near a Warsaw apartment complex in the 1980s, a complex that is one of Warsaw's best but is in such disrepair it demonstrates the harsh realities of the People's Poland. Of the ten episodes, episodes 4, 5, and 6 stand out for the way in which they deal with the ordinary lives of real people involved in complex problems. These episodes demonstrate the Kieslowski's goal is not to moralize or simply illustrate the Commandments by which we are to live. Instead, they are an inquiry into the lives of ordinary people facing complex issues and the ways in which their values either embrace or reject the Commandments. The episodes demonstrate how ordinary people become absorbed in dealing with real-life ethical challenges, often making choices that conflict with the prescriptions in the Ten Commandments.

Episode 4 revolves around the Commandment "Thou shalt honor thy mother and father." A father named Michal and his teen daughter Anka enjoy a close bond, Anka's mother having died when she

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monstrating that self-deception is often a process that involves more than one person. Instead of moralizing about honoring one's mother and father, the film shows the complex choices that humans often face in spite of such dictates. If moral and ethical choices are never black and white, as Episode 4 suggests, then that theme is furthered in Episodes 5 and 6. Episode 5, made into a longer film called "A Short Film about Killing", clearly demonstrates the intellectual and emotional complexities for human beings of trying to abide by the Ten Commandments. The Commandments are black and white but few real-life ethical challenges are. In Episode 5, a cruel young man, Jacek, wanders the streets in search of a victim. Initially Jacek comes off as completely amoral. He pushes complete strangers into urinals and throws rocks at passing cars. He desires robbing someone, and he finds a middle-aged, fat Taxi-driver the perfect foil. Unlike many in Warsaw, the Taxi-driver earns a decent living wage and is able to ignore anyone he so chooses. Jacek is picked up by the Taxi-driver and murders the driver in one of the most graphic and drawn out killings on film. While the Taxi-driver is portrayed nearly as obnoxious and irredeemabl

Category: Film - K