"And God spoke all these words, saying..." Exodus 20:1.
It may come as something of a surprise to many people that the Hebrew Bible does not mention that God gave 10 commandments. Instead, the author of the Pentateuch notes that at a vital moment in the history of Israel, God spoke words, not commandments, to the infant nation. In Greek, the word Decalogue, most literally translated, means "ten words". It is from this word that Krysztof Kieslowski takes the title of his amazing, visionary film. It is a ten part film (each part being a little less than an hour), and each part tells an amazing story which relates to each of the 10 words. Lately, I have been consumed by the world of this brilliant filmmaker, so this blog may be dominated by his work for the next few entries. Bear with me, and think about checking out some of this man's work.
"The Decalogue" is not an instructional series, nor is it heavy handed moralism. Instead, it deals openly and honestly with some very difficult ethical dilemmas that relate to the moral underpinnings of the 10 words (what we call commandments). Take, for example, Decalogue 5. The fifth commandment is "You shall not murder." Here, Kieslowski gives us a horrible character who commits needless and cold blooded murder. But what Kieslowski does is make it a meditation on capital punishment. For anyone who has ever seen "Dead Man Walking", it seems as though Tim Robbins almost borrowed his story from this story. Whatever one thinks of Kieslowski's conclusions regarding capital punishment isn't the point. The point is that he is grappling with the serious issues that these important ethical benchmarks bring to our lives.
This is also the case on Decalogue 8. Here, Kieslowski brings a new view to the classic moral dilemma of whether or not you lie to the Germans during WW2 in order to save the life (or lives) of another (or others). Here, the person with the moral dilemma initially looks like a coward. The Jewish woman who has come to judge her learns that the situation was more complex than she realized.
Decalogue 2 is also riveting. It tells the story of a woman who discovers she is pregnant by her lover. Her husband has been unable to have children, so any pregnancy would prove her infidelity. The woman seeks the help of her husband's doctor to get a prognosis on her husband. If her husband lives, she plans to have an abortion. If he dies, she will have the child, since she has not had a chance to have children, and she wants a child. This would make for an absorbing story on its own, but the doctor has his own moral dilemma given the information he has. What he does and why he does it make for an amazing pay off.
Decalogue 1 is equal parts engrossing and heartbreaking. It challenges the idea of materialism and what we make of a world that is simply a material place that is subject to physical laws. Is everything really that predictable? Decalogue 1 tells a story in which a man who believes in the ultimate power of reason ends up having to put his belief to the ultimate test.
One thing that does appear connect these 10 films is the color red. I don't know that all 10 films have that striking color. However, since the drabness of Communist housing is the setting for these films, the color red stands out in these films, and it seems intentional to me. Could Kiewsloski be making a comment on the blood of Christ somehow affecting or covering the law as the people fail to keep it? I don't know, but I have a hunch that Kiewsloski would be open to that question.
It is difficult to write about one part without writing about all 10. All 10 parts are riveting. They each tell dramatic stories, and each are them are finely acted and realized. To make one of these films would have been an achievement, but to make 10 is truly remarkable. So many moral dilemmas are shown: abortion, voyeurism, fornication, adultery, capital punishment, greed, kidnapping, broken promises and lack of trust. These issues are all dealt with well, even when the position taken may not be one the viewer agrees with. It is a fine line to walk between belief in moral absolutes and realizing that absolute principles usually cannot be applied absolutely. If we absolutely say it is never ever right to lie, things are relatively simple. If we allow for the fact that some things are worth lying for, we realize that there are greater principles involved. The question that all of these films asks then becomes, how are these 10 commandments applied? My belief is that the answer lies in the heart...what motivations do we have and why are we doing what we are doing?
(It is worth noting at the outset that this series seems like a big time commitment, and it is. But, if that is a concern, be sure to note that each of these ten one hour films can stand on their own-one needn't watch all ten to appreciate one part.)
