The commandment thou shall honor no god before me is the commandment for the first Decalogue as well as the father’s tragic flaw. His love, or worship, of technology has become the priority in his life as well as the connection to his young son. While the father is also very blunt about his lack of faith, he does allow his son to attend religious classes to make up his own mind about God. I found this part particularly interesting in that it was not the son who was honoring another god, yet his life was ultimately claimed. The reliance on technology leads to the father’s downfall. Because he is a man of logic, he cannot rely on something so transcendent or unknown, such as religion. Even when he is realizing that it was most likely his own son that drowned in the pool, he attempts to make sense of things in a rational way. He does not act like most parents would have in that situation. Instead, he refuses to give into his emotions, focusing solely on the logistics of the situation. While the father does not have faith in God, he does in fact have faith in the computer. Interestingly though, he does not destroy his computer, but instead destroys the religious shrine. You would think he would have blamed the thing that he had put all of his faith in, rather than something he had no relationship with before. The homeless man near the pond serves as a symbol of an omniscient presence. He knows what’s going to happen and is obviously upset when the young boys die. The pain both the homeless man and the father feel is shown through Midrash, punishment for worshiping false gods. This punishment of the father by God shows the wrathful God, echoing times in the Bible in which people were punished for straying from God.
The cinematography of the film further demonstrates Midrash. The scene in which the father discovers his dead son’s body evokes both remorse and anger from the audience. We finally realize that this obsession with technology ultimately resulted in the gambling of his son’s life. Further, the kneeling of the surrounding community (a religious notion) shows the return to God when something so tragic and overwhelming takes place. While this film was made a long time ago, we can see how it is relevant today, especially with our culture’s heavy reliance on technology and media.
Kieslowski argues that pain and love are something that unites us all, an idea common in both Decalogue I and V. In Decalogue V, the commandment shown through Midrash is “Thou shall not kill.” While the young Jacek is sentenced to death for murder, he still appeals to the audience through his ability to feel, to know pain both physically and emotionally. The pictures of his young sister who died and the words he speaks about her shows Jacek in a new light—a boy who suffers. Jacek changes throughout the film, depending on the situation he is in. At times, he seems so malicious and cruel, yet when confronted by children or death, he reverts back to childhood antics. While Decalogue V is about killing, it is also blatantly about revenge. Punishing murder with more killing has remained a controversial subject throughout our own society as well as around the world. However, it is only until we learn more about Jacek that we second-guess his sentence. Both killings in the film are extremely premeditated and executed with rope. While Jacek dies in a much more “humane” way, the audience still feels torn on whether or not it was justified. Referring back to Kieslowski, it is the fear of death that Jacek feels that makes him so relatable to the judging audience, enforcing the code. Even though the Commandments do not govern our every day lives, they are still determining factors in what happens to us during and after life. Once again, Midrash is used to show the complexity of death. While both the taxi driver and Jacek seem to leave mundane, unfulfilling lives, death does not serve as liberation in any way.
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