Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Summary: Parts one to five of a ten part series made for Polish television. Each programme focuses on the inhabitants of an apartment block and the ethical dilemmas that they face each day. Polish dialogue with subtitles.

One of the greatest and most ambitious cinematic achievements, Krzysztof Kieslowski's THE DECALOG consists of 10 short films inspired by the Ten Commandments. Each film takes place in and around the same area of late-20th-century Warsaw, provoking timeless ethical and moral questions for this era. Specifically, the films address personal issues dealing with family, friends, love, life, and death. Winner of awards from the Venice, Sao Paulo, and Cannes film festivals and originally made for Polish television, Kieslowski's masterwork has been screened all over the world to international acclaim. The video release will give viewers the opportunity to revisit each episode and discover characters from the other films that pop up in the background of the current story and might also help to better explain the mysterious presence of Artur Barcis, a quiet onlooker who might be an angel or a devil. Kieslowski, collaborating with cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, has made a series of films that feel small and intimate yet are actually epic commentaries on modern human existence, making THE DECALOG a lasting work of art. Includes episodes 1 through 5, see also DECALOG 6-10.

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"A terrible idea, of course", was Krzysztof Kie?lowski's first reaction when his co-scriptwriter, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, first suggested the idea for Dekalog--a series of 10 one-hour films, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. But from this unpromising beginning came an edgy, unsettling tour de force, the culmination of Kie?lowski's work in his native Poland and, quite possibly, the last cinematic masterpiece to come out of Communist Eastern Europe.

The full Dekalogconsists of ten one-hour films: this pair of double discs contains the first five. The links to the specific commandments are often oblique and imprecise, and shouldn't be taken too literally. Kie?lowski is using this framework not as a direct exposition of Mosaic Law, nor even as a commentary on its relevance today, but rather as a series of meditations on the complexity of moral choices. All the films are set in the same drab high-rise Warsaw housing estate, and characters from one story will show up the background of others, passing across the frame as they go about their business. One young man who appears in nearly all the films never plays a leading role nor even speaks a line, but remains a watchful, melancholy presence, haunting and disquieting, gazing at the events unfolding around him like an uneasy conscience.

Grim though these stories are, there's often a note of ironic humour leavening the overall bleakness. But this set ends with one of the grimmest of all. In Dekalog 5a young man murders a taxi driver for no apparent reason, then is executed himself. Both deaths are equally squalid and appalling. This episode was later expanded to feature-film length with the title A Short Film About Killing. The greater length enhanced its impact; it's a pity that room wasn't found for that longer version here.

On the DVDs:Dekalog, Parts 1-5offers very little additional material. The second disc, which contains episodes 4 and 5, also includes a brief on-screen text biography and filmography for Kie?lowski. The films are shown in their original 4:3 ratio, in a crisp clean transfer. --Philip Kemp

Main Language:	Polish
Region:	Region 0
Special Features:	Filmography - 1. Krzystof Kieslowski - Director
Subtitles:	English
Year:	1988
Release Date:	May 27, 2002
Runtime:	278 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	A R T024 A D V D
Keywords:	Subtitled, General, Parts, Ten, Commandments, Polish, Part, Drama, Dekalog, Decalogue
Genre:	Drama