Sarah Levow, Decalogue

Decalogue

I believe that translating anything into film can open up a whole new dimension of analysis, and for Kieslowski to put the Commandments into a visual medium definitely helps to try to interpret them. As I understand it, Misrash is not an interpretation, but it is a way of investigating a subject. I think that to see the Commandments through the ten short films is a great was of investigating their meaning to see what they are all about. Many people find it difficult to interpret words, but nearly everyone deals with the visual on a daily basis, so it would make sense to test Midrash in a visual medium.

The first film that we watched in class, “Thou Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me,” was difficult to understand. I felt that it could have applied to many other Commandments, but Kieslowski wanted viewers to focus on that particular one. Looking at the film in that sense, in application to Midrash, it was a bit easier to focus. I think that Kieslowski was very creative in how he made the film, making it so that the theme was not so obvious, and to apply it in a modern sense. Through the death of the man's son, viewers can see how the man put other things, such as work, and his computer first. False gods today can be anything that we find distracting; things that take away from what we should really enjoy in life, such as our children. The fact that Kieslowski was trying to film on things that apply to everyone is also important. Anyone could relate to the feeling of loss, and regret for having lost something that we took for granted.

I believe that, yes, the decalogue series works to integrate the Commandments into an individual's life. Kieslowski put the films into a form where, as mentioned before, the themes can apply to all. Everyone can relate to loss. In the second film, “Thou Shalt Not Kill,” it is a bit harder to relate to the character who kills, but as a viewer, one can certainly question who the bad guy is in the end, and question the purpose of capital punishment. With death coming up in both films, Decalogue certainly bridges a specific moment with eternity. In each film, the characters' question where they went wrong in their lives to cause such horrible things to happen to them, and those horrible things, in turn, effect the outcome of their lives.