245 - Dekalog: One, 1989, Poland. Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski.
Krzysztof Kieslowski is making a series of films. He calls it a cycle. The reporter asks him about his television show. Kieslowski says it is not a television show. With TV you have the same characters recur from week to week. With this series, or cycle, you will have all different actors from week to week.
The reporter asks him if it will be a treatise on moral principles. He replies:
"It won't be a treatise on moral principles.. . . These will simply be films about life. It's ten films, each quite different from the rest. Each has a different subject, a different story, and a different style, because each has a different cinematographer.
Ten different cinematographers! This sounds compelling.
The Dekalog is the Ten Commandments. From the Greek, deka-, ten + logos, word.
But those were historical dramas that retold the biblical story.
Dekalog is different. Dekalog is a series of ten different stories, modern stories, that begin with an idea from each of the commandments, ruminate on it, and then branch off.
One could watch this series of films without knowing its thematic catalyst.
One could also watch each film by itself. They stand alone.
So let us begin with the first one, Dekalog: One.
Exodus 20:1-3 -1) And God spoke all these words, saying, 2) I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3) You shall have no other gods before me.
Deuteronomy 5:6-7 - 6) I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. 7) You shall have none other gods before me.
Pawel is 12 years old. He is smart. He is good. We like him.
Pawel lives with his father Krzysztof, who is a scientist. They have a computer. They work on projects together.
Before John Woo put doves in his films, Kieslowski used birds. A pigeon flies up to the upper-story apartment. It perches. Pawel watches. He smiles.
The two men do push-ups.
Pawel asks his dad to make up a word problem. His dad does. Kermit is fleeing from Miss Piggy. On a sled. At 62 kph. Miss Piggy is chasing him. On skis. At 87 kph. She starts 3 minutes later. Pawel enters the numbers into the computer. Into the program he has programmed. He gets the answer. Miss Piggy will catch Kermit in 10 minutes, 26 seconds.
The father and son have a good thing going. They love each other.
Pawel goes to school. He sees a dog lying dead in the snow. He asks about death. His father does his best to answer. His father does not have all the answers.
Krzysztof has a sister. Irena. Pawel's Aunt Irena. She is a believer. Krzysztof is not necessarily an unbeliever, but he is not sure. He is an agnostic in its formal sense. Maybe. But I do not know.
Pawel asks him about the soul. He talks about the pigeon's eating of the crumbs. He talks about the dead dog. If everything dies, then what does it matter if Miss Piggy catches Kermit? What does it matter? Krzysztof has no answer.
Pawel goes to school. A news reporter is there. Asking questions. Filming footage. Pawel slides on the ice at recess. He slips and falls. Perhaps foreshadowing. Aunt Irena picks him up from school.
Pawel asks Aunt Irena about death. She too does her best to answer. She too does not have all the answers. But she is informed by her faith. She explains that her brother, Pawel's father, is informed by his reason. They grew up in a Catholic household. When he was young he discovered he liked to count and measure things. Now he has his doubts, but he does not talk about them.
Pawel and his father play chess against a girl--who is playing chess against fifteen people! Fifteen games of chess are set up around a circular table. She walks down the inside of the table and makes plays against each opponent. She makes each play within seconds of arriving at each game. She has already won six games.
Make that seven.
Pawel shows his dad how they can beat her. He has discovered that she uses a system. He will beat the system. He says, Let us castle and put her in check. She will defend with her queen. Then we will beat her.
They castle. This puts her in check. She defends with her queen. Now let us play our bishop.
Checkmate.
She looks. She realizes.
Congratulations.
Aunt Irena enrolls Pawel in religious classes. They are building a new church near them.
Krzysztof teaches languages at the university. Pawel sits in on class and listens. He is learning.
Krzysztof gives Pawel ice skates for Christmas.
Krzysztof tests the ice with a stick. It is solid. It will not break. Just promise to stay 15 meters away from where the river enters the lake.
Krzysztof's ink bottle leaks from the bottom. The paper blots the ink. The ink spills upon the paper and upon the book.
The firetruck passes by outside the window, its siren blaring.
Ewa Jezierska calls. Is Pawel home? Marek is not home yet. He says they should be at their English lesson. In the apartment down the hall.
Something has happened. Something in the neighborhood.
He goes to the apartment of the English tutor. She has the flu. She cancelled their lesson. She sent them home.
A hole has opened in the ice.
Krzysztof runs. He stops. He counts. He controls himself.
He looks in his apartment. He calls Irena. He calls in his walkie talkie. He goes to the lake.
They drag the lake. They dredge the water. They find a body.
Krzysztof grieves. Irena grieves.
He goes to the church under construction. He pushes a board and knocks it over. The candles fall. The candle wax drips down the icon, making tears on the face of the saint.
Irena watches the footage of the news report of her nephew from earlier in the day.
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