SUBSCRIBEDekalog 5 & 6 - Krzysztof Kieslowski
It was fortunate that I read a newspaper the other day and found that Cinemanila had an advance screening of the famed Polish director, Krzysztof Kieslowski’s notable work, Dekalog at SM Manila and SM Centerpoint until tomorrow, 10 August 05. Originally filmed for Polish television, it is his take on the Ten Commandments with each part taking a full hour. Due to my availability, I was only able to watch yesterday evening Part5 “Thou shalt not kill” and Part 6 “Thou shalt not commit adultery.” These two episodes were later expanded to a full length film entitled A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love, respectively.
I was not really hoping that this is something of a movie, what with the film looking dated (released in 1988), subtitles are sometimes not clear, there were only less than 10 people watching and at first, it just looked boring but as the film unfolds, one becomes engrossed by the depth of the story, the fate and goings on of the characters’ life and how they interact with the different turn of events.
Part 5 is about murder and capital punishment. The vignetting style applied to the scenes heighten the tension and focus. While at first, I tend to somewhat look down on the protagonist, Jacek, whose a bit brash, harsh and uncouth but it is his youthful arrogance and his realization, in the end, as his life is getting short that there are still many things that he wanted to do, life’s still worth living and enjoying that I gave my sympathies.
Part 6 is about lust and discovering oneself’s capacity to express love. While at first Magda (Maria Magdalena) and Tomek, the 19 year old neighbor who’s been spying on her every night, have different views on love, lust and sex, with the former viewing it as just fleeting while the latter sees it as something that is idealistic (as far as love is concerned), the sudden turn of events that made Tomek commit suicide (but unsuccessfully) sort of turned the tables.
This definitely is one of the must sees and I do hope that when Cinemanila opens this October, be able to watch the rest of the episodes.
