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Dekalog: Communism or Capitalism?
The Dekalog (Kieslowski, 1989) (or The Decalogue) was a TV series that first aired during the late 1980’s. It draws inspiration, in its 10 hour-long episodes, from the ten biblical commandments. With the Polish film censorship law abolished in 1987 and during fall of communism in Poland in 1989, the series shows the transitional period in which Poland was going through at the time. It retains a soap opera feel with issues of family and neighbourly values, but also touches on some of the most controversial topics of filmmaking, Politics and Religion. But which of these comes across more prominent and in which way does this 10 part series portray each of these issues? This is what I will be talking about during in the next few paragraphs in reference to the first episode in the series, entitled Dekalog: Number 1.
The Russians had brought Communism to Poland after world war two. Stalin promised to maintain democratic elections in Poland but betrayed his promise, which angered the Polish people. Russian occupancy lasted right up until the first democratic election that saw a sole candidate Lech Wałęsa run for the presidency and successfully bring the Polish people into a democracy. “Although with The Decalogue, Kieslowski ostensibly abandoned political issues for more universal moral concerns, in a Kieslowski film, the personal cannot be severed from the political” (Perlmutter, 1997, p. 51). With Dekalog: Number 1 it is easy to see that the characters have been very much conformed to the practises of communist life, but want to progress further in terms of morality. “The ethical and the political meet in action” (Celeste, 2004, p.179). The characters do not speak of politics directly in Dekalog: Number 1, but with the previous work of Kieslowski the message of politics and the unjust that he sees in the Polish regime is felt through metaphor and imagery though he may argue that this is coincidental. “Kieslowski speaks from a context in which film and politics have long been held synonymous” (Celeste, 2004, p. 179). This tells us that the type of films that Kieslowski makes, make it impossible to not have a social context that doesn’t cover politics.
Catholicism in this TV series can be and easy parallel to make with the inspiration of it being the Ten Commandments, coming straight from the Catholic scripture of the bible. In my chosen text of Dekalog: Number 1, metaphors of Jesus have been drawn from the characters present in the episode. “In Decalogue 1 he is the vagrant warming his hands over a fire who sees a concerned father out late one night testing the frozen pond with a stick. Gradually he begins to appear as a secular Christ, an incarnation carrying the cross, the symbol of suffering and the burden of the will.” (Celeste, 2004, p. 180). With such a figure present throughout the series it is hard for there not to be considerations that Catholicism is not a part of it.
To conclude I believe that The Dekalog is neither one nor the other in terms of Catholicism or Communism. Poland’s transitional period of the times and the director’s reputation swings it one way, where the subject matter and some references swing the other.
Word count - 542
Bibliography
Celeste, R. (2004). Decalogue: Poland’s cinema of collision. Studies in European Cinema. 1 (3). 175-184.
Perlmutter, R. (1997). Testament of the Father: Kieslowski's The Decalogue. Film Criticism, 22 (2), 51-65.
The Russians had brought Communism to Poland after world war two. Stalin promised to maintain democratic elections in Poland but betrayed his promise, which angered the Polish people. Russian occupancy lasted right up until the first democratic election that saw a sole candidate Lech Wałęsa run for the presidency and successfully bring the Polish people into a democracy. “Although with The Decalogue, Kieslowski ostensibly abandoned political issues for more universal moral concerns, in a Kieslowski film, the personal cannot be severed from the political” (Perlmutter, 1997, p. 51). With Dekalog: Number 1 it is easy to see that the characters have been very much conformed to the practises of communist life, but want to progress further in terms of morality. “The ethical and the political meet in action” (Celeste, 2004, p.179). The characters do not speak of politics directly in Dekalog: Number 1, but with the previous work of Kieslowski the message of politics and the unjust that he sees in the Polish regime is felt through metaphor and imagery though he may argue that this is coincidental. “Kieslowski speaks from a context in which film and politics have long been held synonymous” (Celeste, 2004, p. 179). This tells us that the type of films that Kieslowski makes, make it impossible to not have a social context that doesn’t cover politics.
Catholicism in this TV series can be and easy parallel to make with the inspiration of it being the Ten Commandments, coming straight from the Catholic scripture of the bible. In my chosen text of Dekalog: Number 1, metaphors of Jesus have been drawn from the characters present in the episode. “In Decalogue 1 he is the vagrant warming his hands over a fire who sees a concerned father out late one night testing the frozen pond with a stick. Gradually he begins to appear as a secular Christ, an incarnation carrying the cross, the symbol of suffering and the burden of the will.” (Celeste, 2004, p. 180). With such a figure present throughout the series it is hard for there not to be considerations that Catholicism is not a part of it.
To conclude I believe that The Dekalog is neither one nor the other in terms of Catholicism or Communism. Poland’s transitional period of the times and the director’s reputation swings it one way, where the subject matter and some references swing the other.
Word count - 542
Bibliography
Celeste, R. (2004). Decalogue: Poland’s cinema of collision. Studies in European Cinema. 1 (3). 175-184.
Perlmutter, R. (1997). Testament of the Father: Kieslowski's The Decalogue. Film Criticism, 22 (2), 51-65.