Dekalog is a very difficult film. In fact, ten short films, about 50-60 minutes each. This is not yet a superficially complicated work where you have look for some hidden agenda or multi-layered symbols. No, all 10 series depict lives of simple people who all happen to dwell in Warsaw, around 1987, and who live within the same modern neighborhood. What is really striking is the sensation how similarly this place looks very much like the dull, concrete blocks in my home-town in Russia or any large industrial city of the world. And what a constellation of stars! Almost all the best Polish actors are gathered here Boguslaw Linda, Jerzy Stuhr, Zbigniew Zamachowski, Daniel Olbrychski, Janusz Gaios among others. They look so young and so fresh in the film. But the way they act is simply second to none. What a thrilling, truthful performance! Each small nothing in their life breathes fully and vividly, thanks to their impeccable and outstanding play. So, why Dekalog is so difficult? Many reasons. First, it's the deliberate choice of colors. The series all made in almost no-color scheme, almost black and white. Then, very few dialogs. Sometimes, you have to watch closely and attentively for many long minutes, and yet in those mute scenes there is Life, true and naked. Each episode revolves around a certain God's Commandment, hence the name of the whole film. And each Commandment is explained so freshly and so unobtrusively wisely that there is no didactic tone or dull morals there. Common people live and die in common surroundings, and with their deeds they illustrate those rules from The Bible. What are my favorite episodes? Well, the 10th one, about two hapless brothers who try to make a fortune on their late Dad's priceless stamp collection, but then simply lose their money, a kidney and the whole collection. Or, the terribly cold and merciless series about a guy called Jacek Lazar, who killed a taxi driver and for that is hanged. The dearth penalty scene is so realistic that it will make you hate all the capital punishments for ages. Or, take the superb episode about a young man peeping at the beautiful woman nearby. He behaves like a dangerous maniac but turns up to be a weak one, ending up in a hospital. It's so much to describe there, but every short film, be it about a Dad who trusted his computer so much that it caused his son's tragic death; or the one about a Jewish lady who once was not saved by the Polish family all of them are so touchingly deep, so exact, so surgically sophisticated that simply may be called masterworks. This is us there, this is our own life. If you feel shame, or fear, or sadness or pain then Krzysztof Kislowski did his job well. He was and remains to be a master of realism, a carver of characters so deep and convincing that they may step out of the screen and right into our life. The serial demands all your time and attention, but if you have a chance watch it carefully and think a bit about yourself, your life and your morality. If the film makes you think hard, then it has done its job. This is a labor of love, a grand achievement of Polish cinema and the essential choice for all the thinking people.
