Kim Robinson - Decalogue

Decaologue is a set of10 short films which were made in representation to the 10 commandments. The director used the interpretation of midrash in order to make the commandments pertinent to his viewers current status in life. In class we watched 2 of the 10 films including that of "thou shalt not kill". In this film we see a taxi driver preform rude deeds throughout the day and eventually when he picks up one passenger, the passenger turns out to be a murderer. The passenger is found guilty of the crime and is sentenced to death. This scene from the movie where he is about to be put to death is one of the most poignant of the film. As a viewer I felt more sorrow for the murderer as he was killed for his actions compared the sorrow I felt when the taxi driver was killed. I think the director had purposely made the film this way so that the viewer could see both sides of death. The taxi driver had been one of those rude people we see everyday while the murderer was the quiet lonely one with no family to lean on. Also, the director did a good job of portraying this commandment in his modern time. Using the setting and the life conditions he did would make the average viewer see how the commandment still applies to them. Also, it makes a good argument how we put to death someone who had just killed another. What makes our murder anymore righteous than that of the random murderer. It'd be interesting to see the other films to see how he portrayed the 10 commandments. Just by watching the film you cannot immediately figure out which commandment it is, but after looking at the deeper meaning you are able to see how the film was really about that from the beginning.