A terrible idea, of course", was Krzysztof Kieœlowski's first reaction when his co-scriptwriter, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, first suggested the idea for Dekalog--a series of 10 one-hour films, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. But from this unpromising beginning came an edgy, unsettling tour de force, the culmination of Kieœlowski's work in his native Poland and, quite possibly, the last cinematic masterpiece to come out of Communist Eastern Europe. The full Dekalog consists of ten one-hour films: this pair of double discs contains the first five. The links... to the specific commandments are often oblique and imprecise, and shouldn't be taken too literally. Kieœlowski is using this framework not as a direct exposition of Mosaic Law, nor even as a commentary on its relevance today, but rather as a series of meditations on the complexity of moral choices. All the films are set in the same drab high-rise Warsaw housing estate, and characters from one story will show up the background of others, passing across the frame as they go about their business. One young man who appears in nearly all the films never plays a leading role nor even speaks a line, but remains a watchful, melancholy presence, haunting and disquieting, gazing at the events unfolding around him like an uneasy conscience. Grim though these stories are, there's often a note of ironic humour leavening the overall bleakness. But this set ends with one of the grimmest of all. In Dekalog 5 a young man murders a taxi driver for no apparent reason, then is executed himself. Both deaths are equally squalid and appalling. This episode was later expanded to feature-film length with the title A Short Film About Killing. The greater length enhanced its impact; it's a pity that room wasn't found for that longer version here. On the DVDs: Dekalog, Parts 1-5 offers very little additional material. The second disc, which contains episodes 4 and 5, also includes a brief on-screen text biography and filmography for Kieœlowski. The films are shown in their original 4:3 ratio, in a crisp clean transfer. --Philip Kemp [show more]
Preceding such widely acclaimed films as 'The Double Life of Veronique' (1991) and 'The Three Colours Trilogy' (1994), Krzysztof Kieslowski's 'Dekalog' (1989), a series originally made for Polish television while the country was still under Communist rule, surely stands not only as a major artistic accomplishment among the oeuvre of the venerable director but as a major accomplishment of contemporary film as a whole.
Described by Stanley Kubrick as the only masterpiece in his lifetime, this series - consisting of ten one-hour episodes, each self-contained and independent of the others but set within the same Warsaw apartment block - is loosely based on the Ten Commandments, whereby each story adopts a different Commandment as its basic premise. Yet, though it would seem likely which such material as the inspiration, Kieslowski never tends towards didacticism or moralising and leaves each episode open to the interpretation of the individual viewer.
Many episodes can, therefore, be considered to refer to more than just one of the Commandments, and to which Commandment each refers is perhaps not of high importance, with Kieslowski himself stating that the films should be influenced by the individual Commandments to the same degree that the Commandments influence our daily lives. What is of importance is the stories Kieslowksi, with his co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz, weaves from the premise of each Commandment; profound stories about ordinary people leading their everyday lives; complex and touching stories which explore themes universal to us all: love, loss, guilt, faith, fear and compassion.
Contained on this two-disc set are the first five episodes, with the latter five available in a separate set; and from the first episode - a moving story which conflicts an ardent belief in the rationality of science and mathematics with the spirituality of human faith - through to the fifth - a devastating story which shares some likeness with Albert Camus' 'The Outsider' where the protagonist is both the perpetrator and the victim of a killing, and was later extended by Kieslowski and released as a separate film under the title 'A Short Film About Killing' - these films are utterly engrossing and always affecting, at once both visceral and cerebral.
'They gain the added power of allowing the audience to discover what's really going on rather than being told,' Kubrick said in his praise of this series. 'They do this with such dazzling skill, you never see the ideas coming and don't realise until much later how profoundly they have reached your heart.'
Collectively the 'Dekalog' series is a remarkable achievement by Krzysztof Kieslowski, one that any viewer who has an appreciation for film beyond mere escapism will find unique and unforgettable.
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