Megan Wood- Blog #4 (assignment-Decalogues)

The first short film from the Decalogue series that we watched was based upon the 1st commandment: "Thou shall have no other Gods before me." Essentially the clip followed a period in the life of a boy and his dad, who's life was inundated with new computer technology that enabled him to calculate probability and statistics pertaining to events. The father was outwardly nonreligious, putting his faith in only what he could see- to a point where this reliance on this "programmed computer which has its own aesthetics, personality" became a blind worship of the technology that would cost him his son's life. The film used visual symbolism to foreshadow the event, such as the ink bottle cracking like the ice. The computer's unknowing response to questions like, "Do you know his dreams?" should have been a warning that some things cannot be calculated.
When his son died, the father's interaction with the religious shrine in the church held a lot of symbolism in representing the nature of his faith: By crossing himself with the ice, it was like he was accepting that what killed his son was connected to a holy other; the ice melting as he did so represented his still distance from that holy. The whole film was a great example of Midrash, or punishment for worshiping false gods.


The second clip from the Decalogue series featuring the commandment: "Thou shall not kill" was the story of a troubled boy named Jacek, who acted out in anger as a result of the death of his younger sister (and best friend). The story chronicled his planning and committing of the murder of a taxi cab driver, and then the planning and committing of his death sentence as a result. Most interestingly, there were many parallels between these two "deaths."
1. A last meal was had by the "killers" right before each death
2. Both "murders" were committed with a rope
3. both deaths were planned and calculated
Here Midrash is used to show the complexity of death and how it intertwines with love, as Kieslowski argues are both things that unite us all emotionally. The audience is given short glimpses of Jacek's true emotional character (a loney, troubled boy who just needs help) only a few times, but most fervently while he discussed his sister with his lawyer before he is killed. As for Midrash, this clip shows how in many ways, revenge and justice are on in the same.