Religion and Film 2021

 In these Decalogue movies they portray the original 10 commandments in modern stories as to make them more powerful and familiar to a modern audience. The ones that we screened focused on the commandments of "Love the Lord thy God and have no god before me" and "Thou shalt not murder. The visuals that were shown throughout these stories showed these commandments and related them to things that we understand more in a modern sense. The films use midrash in order to commentate on and emphasize the importance of these commandments.  In the first film we watch the man puts too much of his faith into things such as technology, measurements and science. As a result of this he faces the consequences and loses his son. This represents the idolization of earthly and material things. It emphasizes the idea of faith in God and God alone. We can see here that the father becomes frustrated and we see the powerful scenes of his pain and his return to the church. It also featured a sc...

         Released in 1988 by Krzysztof Kieślowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the Polish film, Decalogue, represented the differences in storytelling between European and American films. Specifically, screenwriters in American productions often showcase plot and deeper thematic elements through the plot and climax of the film. On the other hand, European films often convey the plot through specific dialogues references, and connections to the overall plot.           In Decalogue, viewers are reminded of situations involving the ten commandments and its inner meaning, or the Jewish tradition of Midrash. Within Judaism, the religion uses different methods to the interpretation of text, or hermeneutics. In addition, the tradition of Midrash combines the powers of remez and the darash. The remez is the focus on the deeper meaning and the darash focuses on the comparative meaning. One particular scene in Decalogue that reflects the connect...

 When watching the two excerpts of the Decalogue movies, I was very disturbed. The overall sense of the two episodes was very eerie. The visual medium of film was used very well to explain Midrash. The first film explained the 1st commandment, "I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me." The way Krzysztof put this saying into imagery was unique. The father did not believe in a higher power, and in the film, it seemed that because the father put his beliefs into science instead of God, he was punished by losing his son. Throughout the film, a homeless man was sitting near the lake, where later in the movie, the son would drown. I questioned why this man filmed or why the character was included, and now I wonder, was he a visual representation of God or an angel? The second film expressed the 5th commandment, "Thou shalt not murder." This film also expressed the political aspect of the death penalty. A young man kills a cab driver and is sentenced...

      After reflecting on the films we watched this week, the Decalogue(s), and the readings we were assigned, I believe that these movies were the mostly closely related to the subject of our class, religion within film, that we have seen so far. Not to discredit the other movies we have watched, however, as each of them were meaningful and thought-provoking in terms of religion as well; I was just particularly struck by how directly these movies related to a religious context that I am familiar with. As such, I believe the cinematography and direction of the film directly contributes to our search of meaning in the film as the grainy, 'weight' of each shot and angle allow the viewer to interpret in any way they feel. However, as we had learned before hand, each movie was directly related to the ideas of Midrash and the Commandments, two of the most common religious ideals of today's faiths. Therefore, the film acts as both a form of interpretation and open to inte...

 The visual medium in The Decalogue works as Midrash because you are never given a true answer and stay striving for meaning from the story and its characters. In the first film Krysztof is a technology man who sticks to what is powerful computer tell him to. Because of his use of technology, he slowly drifted further from God. His son, Pavel, also is using his computer to help him solve problems. When Pavel disappears after playing on the lake, you are never given a true answer and what is going on until the end. The midrash is apparent in the background as Krysztof is searching everywhere for his son. The first commandment states that "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" and in the film, Krysztof is using his computer as his god. He's lost his Catholic faith over the years even though his sister remained heavily rooted in the Christian faith, and turned to machines to help him solve all of his problems. The computer saying "I am ready" is another symbol o...

Film works to show Midrash since film is not necessarily explicit. Part of the struggle to find meaning comes when instructions are not clear. Even the Commandments 'thou shall not kill' and 'worship the Lord your God' are not entirely explicit. Questions that follow could be 'what about self defense?' or 'am I supposed to worship God above my child?'  Just as the Commandments are not completely explicit, film isn't always explicit either. Film can record people's conversations, lives, etc. without ever making it clear the significance of the conversations. For example, in the Decalogues, Kieslowski didn't specify at the beginning that the films we watched were about Midrash or the Commandments. He just filmed the stories and let viewers decide their own interpretation.  The film's lack of dialogue  symbolizes a gap in understanding. But the everyday routines that the film recorded helped to bridge that gap. Everyone can relate to riding ...

 The episodes of Decalogue represented the  peshat- literal meaning (european) remez- deep meaning (united states)

 Zach Ferguson - Decalogue  In the two Decalogue films we watched, the concept of Midrash appeared multiple times throughout the films. Midrash is a deep connection and reflection of God's word in the Jewish belief seen in their Holy book, the Torah. The two films we watched focused on two of the ten commandments God gave to the world; thou shall not kill and thou shall have no other gods before me.  In the first film, the commandment focused on was thou shall not kill. It focuses on a young man who is seen as being a very unpleasant person. He eventually leads a taxi driver outside the city and kills him. Several times throughout this film though is another man who appears at random points only to find out he resembles the angel of death. I think this is shown most clearly when the main character is being led to his execution and the man who is supposed to represent the angel of death walks by with a ladder and stops to look at the main character. This resembles the ange...

                            The Decalogue movies are truly powerful film that put the viewer into the situations it shows. Focused around the 10 commandments, Decalogue 1 and 5 focus on the sanctity of God and the sanctity of life. In other words, thou shalt worship the Lord thy God and thou shalt not kill. The director uses dark lighting, close camera angles, and intense dialogue to give the view ownership of what is happening. In Decalogue 1 all of these aspects come together at the end when the father goes into the church and knocks over the alter. Alongside the lighting the actions of the father really make one think about how they would react in a situation similar to this. The scene swells with emotion when the depiction of Mary starts to cry with the father. This seems to represent that the sacred is not indifferent to suffering and belief allows one to feel this understanding and sympathy.  The cinematogr...

 2/11 Lizzie Heier- Before watching the film, I had never heard of the term midrash, let alone seen examples of it in movies. Midrash can be defined as the textual interpretation of the Torah. Krzysztof Kieslowski is known for representing this textual interpretation throughout his movies.  In the first film we watched, the commandment of not putting anyone above God is very evident. The first movie follows the story of a father and his son. The father grew up in the church but eventually fell out of touch with religion and relied heavily on technology. He had more faith in technology than he did in religion. He revolved every aspect of his life around technology which ultimately led to his sons death in a pond. The father thought his calculations could never fail him and this his computer was all he needed.  In the second film, the commandment was thou shall not kill. It is clear that Jacek is very troubled from his past, when his sister was killed. This haunted him and ...

In this series, midrash is very prevalent. It forces the reader or viewer to struggle and try to make personal and subjective meaning out of the works. The film does a fantastic job of applying the decalogue to today's world, in a more modern and dated context. Such as not worshipping other gods (math/measurements) before the one true God. Or thou shall not kill, a man predetermined he was going to murder someone and ended up getting killed himself for the crime. While watching this, one had to follow and pick up on these actions in order to make meaning out of the visuals the movie supplied.  I believe that the films did a great job of connecting the gap of understanding the 10 commandments. These visuals allowed for more up to date examples of where the commandments fit in. These commandments were created thousands of years ago so the context in which they would apply needed to be updated for us to understand. Some may not see math or measurement as a god but in actuality, it is ...

 These short films work as midrash through ambiguity or lack of emphasis in dialogue. Instead, the film focuses on the visual aspect of storytelling. The abandonment of an explicitly stated plot creates wiggle room for the viewers imagination and past experiences to fill in the gaps. This is exemplified during the beginning of the story of the boy who drowned, we are shown his aunt staring at a video of him running around at school. We do not know the context behind this film as it is being presented to us. So, we utilize midrash to make meaning of it. This visual ambiguity is comparable to the psychoanalytic inkblot test, where an analyst presents different vague images and takes meaning away from what the viewer thinks of the images. The concepts of Remez and Darash, what midrash works to bring out, are at play during this inkblot test as well as in  Kieslowskis work. It doesn't matter what the inkblot literally is, its deep and comparative meanings hold ...

2/11/21 Tyler Baldwin - Decalogue Midrash as a concept would be totally foreign to the polish viewers that the movie was made in, as well as most Americans that watch  Krzysztof Kieślowski's films. Midrash is supposed to be deep and comparative reflection on God's word in the Jewish tradition, or the Torah. After Babylonian times the law seemed not as relevant, and Midrash challenges you to analyze what the laws meant personally to you. I think this same tradition is actually very prevalent in modern Christianity, as many people pick and choose which parts of the bible to believe in, without taking a deeper reflection of why those laws are there, even if the traditional Jewish law does not apply to them. The film medium is a great way to impose Midrash upon the viewer, as I mentioned in a previous essay movies capture your sense of sight and cause you to think more deeply than a podcast, radio show or music would similarly plea for the listeners attention. Because the Decalogu...