Ashes and Diamonds-1958

Themes The opening scene shows a chapel with two figures lounging in the grass. In Poland the Church has always been a refuge in any crisis. However crisis for them does not stem from their faith but has to do with their conscience. Their crisis is that the war is over yet death does not [...]

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Dekalog#7-8

Dekalog 7 ‘Thou Shalt Not Steal’ In the seventh episode Kieslowski poses the question of whether you can steal something that is already yours. The world we live in is so complex and there are simple thefts and subtle forms of theft. A young woman, Majka (Maja Barelkowska) is planning to leave for Canada and [...]

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Dekalog#4 – #6

Dekalog 4: Dekalog 4 hangs upon the Commandment, “Honour thy Father and Mother”. In the familiar apartment block, teenage Anka (Adrianna Biedrzynska) has lived with her father Michal (Janusz Gajos) all her life. Their bond is very close considering that her mother has been dead soon after she was born. Even the existence of a [...]

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Dekalog #2 and #3

Dekalog 2 Inspired, though not chained to, the second Commandment, Dekalog 2 deals with a hospital consultant (Aleksander Bardini) who lives alone surrounded by his cacti in one of the nondescript apartment complexes. He has a bustling housekeeper. Most of energy is spent on medical matters and he tends critically ill patients such as Andrzej [...]

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Dekalog 9 and 10

Dekalog 9 Love and marriage go together like a carriage. Oh yes we all have heard that. But impotence is like a carriage with a stuck wheel. Of course it is a medical condition, which needs fixing. Marriage itself is so fraught with partners falling out of love and compatibility put to jeopardy by so [...]

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Dekalog-1988

Is decalogue relevant in this time and age? In the ten part series Dekalog, Krzysztof Kieslowski examines the dilemma of fundamental sin in the lives of ordinary Warsaw citizens. Note the geographical microcosm where the episodes take place. Poland with its checkered history under oppressive regimes one after the other, has always been a staunch [...]

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Knife In The Water-1962

Knife in the Water (Polish: Nóż w wodzie) was one of the surprising discoveries of the 1963 season when it was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the 1963 Academy Awards. The filmmaker Roman Polanski with his debut became bracketed with Orson Welles who had similarly made a name with Citizen Kane. Both were [...]

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