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)