Lizzie Heier- Dekalog

 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 led him to go on and kill another. After his actions, when he was in jail, he seemed very remorseful and like he wanted to just be back with his sister. He knew that his actions were wrong and he wanted his mother to know he was sorry. 

The main visual that stood out to me was the one man by the fire in the first film and the reappearing character in the second film. To me, they both symbolized the angel of death. They were there throughout the movie waiting for the inevitable. Once the characters had died, they were no longer there. They came as a warning sign, especially when the father in the first film was trying out the ice, the man by the fire looked him in the eyes and you could feel the stillness in his look. 

Kieslowski did a really good job of displaying feelings through passion. In the second film, Jacek is very deadset and passionate about his mission to kill a man. I believe this is from losing his sister. He was never the same after his sister was gone and he was passionate about his relationship with her. He mentions that they were best friends and it is hard to lose your best friend and just move on in life. His feelings and his passion overtook his practical thinking, which ultimately led him to death. 

In the first film, the father and the child are passionate about technology. The little boy is excited to figure anything out through his computer. He asks for problems just so he can figure out the answer. This passion is what ultimately leads him to his death as well. He is so passionate and has such trust in his calculations that he puts all his faith into the answer. 

The film does a good job of displaying the commandments and how important it is to follow these commandments. If they are not followed, it seems as though death falls upon the individual. It shows that if someone goes against the commandments they will end up dead or at a loss in their life. I do not know if it brings a meaning of eternity since it only focuses on the present. The only way I see it connecting to the ultimate meaning of eternity is that if you go against the commandments, then life is not what it is supposed to be. 



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