Krzysztof Kieslowski: Decalog

Decalog is an attempt to narrate ten stories about ten or twenty individuals, who - caught in a struggle precisely because of these and not other circumstances, circumstances which are fictitious but which occur in every life - suddenly realize that they're going round in circles, that they're not achieving what they want. We've become too egotistic, too much in love with ourselves and our needs, and it's as if everybody else has somehow disappeared into the background.

We do a lot for our loved ones - supposedly - but when we look back over our day, we see that although we've done everything for them, we haven't got the strength or time left to take them in our arms, simply to have a kind word for them or say something tender. We haven't got any time left for feelings, and I think that's where the real problem lies. Or time for passion, which is closely tied up with feelings. Our lives slip away, through our fingers.

Basically, my characters behave much as in other films, except that in Decalog, I probably concentrated more on what's going on inside them rather than what's happening on the outside. Before, I often used to deal with the surrounding world, with what's happening all around, how external circumstances and events influence people, and how people eventually influence external events. Now, in my work, I've thrown aside this external world, and, more and more frequently, deal with people who come home, lock the door on the inside and remain alone with themselves.

~Krzysztof Kieslowski

Krzysztof Kieślowski (1941-1996) was an Academy Award nominated influential Polish film director and screenwriter, known internationally for The Double Life of Veronique and his film cycles The Decalog and Three Colors (Red, White and Blue).

The Decalog (1988), a series of ten short films set in a Warsaw tower block, each nominally based on one of the Ten Commandments, was created for Polish television; episodes five and six were released internationally in a longer form as A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love respectively.

The Decalog - One (Dekalog, jeden) is connected to the first imperative of the Ten Commandments: 'I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me.' Krzysztof lives alone with Pawel, his 12-year old and highly intelligent son, and introduces him to the world of personal computers. They have several PCs in their flat and do many experiments with programming such as opening and closing the doors or turning on and off the water tap.

One cold winter morning, Paweł becomes depressed at the sight of a stray dead dog and begins to wonder about deeper things in life. When asked about the nature of death, his father gives him an objective and yet cold explanation of death as the ending of all vital functions.

Pawel and his father then use the computer to calculate if it is possible for him to skate on the ice on a local lake not far away from their home and whether it would hold him. After filling in the data into the computer, the PC says that the ice would hold three times Pawel's weight. Krzysztof even goes to the lake and corroborates that the ice is strong enough. Pawel finds a pair of skates in a drawer meant to be a Christmas gift and wants to try them on the lake. His father gives his permission.

The next day, Krzysztof hears firemen's sirens going off and people rushing to the lake. Krzysztof refuses to believe that the ice could have broken, since his studies indicated that the ice would hold. After searching all over the place, he receives confirmation from one of Pawel's friends that his son was skating at the same time when the ice gave way.

Krzysztof then enters a church, and in tears, sinks to his knees and makes a cross on his forehead with a block of frozen holy water. The message of the film is clear; God works in mysterious ways, far beyond the control and understanding of mortal man.

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