Rachel Fralick - Blog #6: Decalogue

The film, "Decalogue," is a series of ten, one hour films representing each of the ten commandments. These sacred ten commandments can be found in Exodus 20 in the Bible and then again in Deuteronomy. Though many people seem to live the "good life" in contrast to these ten commandments, there are, actually, other guidelines that Christians are instructed to follow in the Bible. These ten commandments seem to be the best well known, and the film, "Decalogue," does a fantastic job at highlighting them in a relatable, tangible way.

One of the main points discussed in class was the idea of Midrash. Midrash is the way to find inner meaning and it is a way in which stories can be told to dramatize a concept in order to get at what the author intended to say, specifically, in this case, through film. Symbolism is a great way to dramatize any concept and make it memorable enough for the audience to remember the point that the producer was attempting to make. One thing that I specifically remember about the movie was the symbol of the ink as well as the ice. Ink is typically seen as something that brings life, but it can also be seen as something that brings death. In the case of a newly married couple, their signature on the marriage documents seals their marriage in legal terms. For an author, their ink-pen is a source of life for their story. On the flip-side, however, ink can represent negativity. When an individual owes a lot of money, signing their name to a check wishes their money away immediately. This can cause stress and anxiety. Additionally, the ink in a newspaper obituary can bring sadness to a family hoping their dying family member would hold out just a little bit longer. Either way it is perceived, it is a mechanism bringing life or death.

In the movie, "Decalogue," ink was a symbol for death. At one point when the main character in the episode was writing a note, the ink glass began to leak and spill everywhere. It is impossible, when this happens, to be able to clean up the mess that the ink does make, so in this case, his paper was stained. This event seemed to have deeper meaning, however. When the ink in his ink bottle broke, it was a symbol of his son's death on the ice. The ice had cracked just as the ink bottle had, and the two were simultaneously linked was a "mess" that could not be reversed. As the ink spilled out from the ink bottle, so the blood spilled from his son's body. By the time the father was able to get to the scene, it was already too late and the son was gone.

This really makes me think how careful we must be with our life. The ten commandments were not given to us to constrain us within the boundaries of it's words, but to show us our sin, as Paul says in Romans. If we truly understood this, it would be a freeing feeling rather than a binding feeling.