The Decalogue was a film comprised of ten short films. Before the class the concept of midrash was brought up help guide in interpreting when watching two of the ten films.
The first film was titled Decalogue One. It was a short film about a boy and father. The boy, named Pavel who was a curious boy and always looking for adventure. His father, a teacher, had a computer and every morning the two would gage if the lake down below was solid enough to skate on since it was winter in Poland. All Pavel wanted to do was skate and when his father told him that the lake was solid enough Pavel jumped to the conclusion to go skating. The ice though was not solid enough and Pavel died at the end of the short film.
Decalogue One was full of symbolism. The first was a computer which stood for man relying on technology and that technology sometimes cannot be relied on. This is true because the computer was wrong in estimating if the lake was solid enough and Pavel died. Another form of symbolism was a homeless man outside. It was cold outside and the man struggled to keep warm. In front of the man was a dog who died because of the snow and in return the homeless man stood for death itself. The man was always surrounded by fire or light which could have also stood for some sort of escape from life.
Overall the short film was sad and represented the struggle between all-knowing and free will. The Decalogue stands for collectively for the Ten Commandments. This film represented thou shall not worship false gods or in this films case, technology. God is the only way and place faith in him.
The second film watched within the Decalogue was Decalogue four. The message was simple thou shall not kill. The short film had a boy that was under 21 that murdered someone and was caught. At the end he was sentenced to death and the movie ended. The film was not as intense as the first film. You never saw Pavel’s death coming. The 21 year old kid was an asshole and in return his fate was inevitable.
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