Thomas Fosdick - Decalogue

 

             

            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 cinematography creates a similar feeling of absorption in the scene where the defense attorney is talking to his client before he is sent to be hung. Their dialogue along with the way the camera focuses on their faces makes the scene incredibly intense. 

             The style of filming in the Decalogues helps the director use the Jewish tradition of Midrash well, but it would be for naught without the storylines he uses to show how the 10 commandments truly are applicable and are not some abstract concept that is fun to think about. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God protects from an over-reliance/idolization of on our useful yet inconsistent scientific understanding of the world. God is working through the computer in this film. This is why it gives the father a measurement that was so safe that the father wouldn't think twice about letting his son go out on the ice, but the ice cracks and the son dies. This is not God killing his son per se, but instead letting the father's total trust in the computer cloud his judgment. This is a very real struggle with very real consequences as the first decalogue depicts. Thou shalt not kill is also depicted in a very realistic and human way. In Decalogue 5 the struggles of the Defence attorney concerning the death penalty as a concept are also very real. He doesn't believe in the death penalty, in part, because justice is not supposed to be vengeful. He also says that it does not actually deter murder like it is proposed to do. Therefore its only reason must be revenge, furthermore, he believes the Lord said thou shalt not kill and the state putting people to death is killing.

              These films also relate closely to Rudolf Otto's idea of fascination in relation to the numinous. Otto states, "The 'mystery' is for him not merely something to be wondered at but something that entrances him". Just like the numinous or the 'wholly other' is something so awful (in the sense that it fills one with awe) that it pulls one towards it, the decalogues are the same. Through their stories of heartbreak, they pull the viewer into the film and allow him or her to truly experience the film. 

 

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