Biographer's take on Dekalog series

Dekalog
Dekalog

Lawyer and retired Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz says the original Ten Commandments in Hebrew actually contain almost 20 rules from the Almighty. That may explain why filmmakers as different as Hollywood legend Cecil B. DeMille and Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski have been inspired to build stories around them.

DeMille made two epic films based around them: A silent movie and a 1956 Technicolor spectacle that plays on TV every year at Easter. Kieslowski wound up making a 10-hour miniseries in 1988 for Polish television called Dekalog set in a Warsaw apartment complex. (In addition, episodes five and six were expanded into feature films titled A Short Film About Killing and A Short Film About Love.)

With its complicated themes, which could be depressing at one moment and uplifting in another, Dekalog earned praise from Empire magazine, which chose it as one of "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema," and from Stanley Kubrick, who said, "By making their points through the dramatic action of the story (Kieslowski and co-screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz) gain the added power of allowing the audience to discover what's really going on rather than being told. They do this with such dazzling skill, you never see the ideas coming and don't realize until much later how profoundly they have reached your heart."

Despite the cult following that has built up for Kieslowski and his work since his death in 1996 at the age of 54, Dekalog and the two feature length episodes weren't widely available outside of Europe until years after he died. Thanks to the Criterion Collection, there's a new Blu-ray collection that contains not only the 12 films but archival interviews with Kieslowski and new recollections by his surviving collaborators.

To understand Dekalog and its lasting power, we contacted Kieslowski biographer and Columbia University professor Annette Insdorf by email. She knew the director and, more importantly, understands how his movies continue to work.

Q. Kieslowski's films, Dekalog in particular, have appealed to viewers who would normally avoid subtitled Polish movies. Why do you think that's happened?

A. His films are both accessible and profound. Word-of-mouth has grown over the past 25 years, inspiring two generations of cinephiles to watch -- and re-see -- his cinematic gems.

Q. These films cover the fall of the communist system in the late 1980s, but they still seem relevant. Why do you think that is?

A. Dekalog does not really address politics. Rather, Kieslowski offers dramas of moral choice which -- while specific to Poland almost 30 years ago -- have universal appeal. He interrogates the Ten Commandments (rather than illustrating them) in a vibrant way that gives them timeless urgency.

Q. When Cecil B. DeMille made The Ten Commandments in 1923, he alternated the spectacle of Moses and the parting of the Red Sea with a contemporary story of two brothers, one of whom followed the edicts and the other who didn't. Kieslowski and his co-screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz didn't go for that simplistic approach. How would you describe what they did instead?

A. They used the details of ordinary lives in late 20th-century Warsaw to illuminate the human condition. The inhabitants of the apartment complex (which serves as the shared backdrop) all confront ethical decisions: some make wiser choices than others. Kieslowski tells these stories poetically.

Q. Didn't some of the actors not know which commandments their episodes centered on?

A. I'd go further than that. Kieslowski himself admitted that there is no inherent correlation between a Dekalog episode and a specific commandment. Rather, each segment addresses at least two or three of the commandments.

Q. Dekalog was made relatively cheaply, but is full of striking visuals. How do you think Kieslowski was able to make a great-looking film in a seemingly un-photogenic place like a Warsaw apartment complex, despite an astonishingly low number of takes?

A. He was smart enough to enlist the best cinematographers in Poland, including Slawomir Idziak (who would go on to shoot his Double Life of Veronique as well as Three Colors: Blue) for No. 5, and Piotr Sobocinski (who would be his director of photography for Red) for No. 3 and No. 9. Each segment makes terrific use of glass (especially reflections), and has a muted majesty in terms of visual expressiveness.

Q. Speaking of the visuals, the new Criterion edition looks a lot better than the VHS edition I used to own. What are some of the improvements viewers get to experience with the new package?

A. First, the 4K transfers are superior to the 2000 DVD release. Second, the aspect ratio is improved, not chopping off the top or bottom of the image for "TV" suitability.

Q. Isn't one of those new extras your own examination of some of his themes?

A. Yes, and I was delighted that they asked me to do an overview/analysis of the themes and visual motifs of Dekalog.

Q. Although the stories are distinct, they all take place in the same cinematic universe. Characters from one episode make cameos in another. What are some of your favorites of these interactions featured in Dekalog?

A. The most meaningful cameo for me is that of the father from No. 1 seen at the beginning of No. 3. We meet a family on Christmas Eve through the eyes of a man (Henryk Baranowski) who has just lost his son. A sense of loss therefore permeates what follows, linking the story of taxi driver Janusz (Daniel Olbrychski) and former lover Ewa (Maria Pakulnis) to No. 1.

Q. You've written Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kieslowski, the first English-language book on him and his movies. How did you get to know him?

A. I was very fortunate that the New York Film Festival asked me to translate for Kieslowski when his Camera Buff was presented in 1980. I continued to be his translator over the next 16 years, mainly at the Cannes and Telluride film festivals, and we developed a warm friendship.

Q. Most of the episodes of Dekalog seem bittersweet, but No. 10 is hysterically funny. In many of the quotes from him in the book, he seemed like a funny guy despite making some somber films. Was that your experience?

​A. Kieslowski could be serious, but he also had a ripe sense of humor, or should I say irony. He did enjoy a good laugh, preferably with a glass of vodka and a cigarette.

MovieStyle on 10/14/2016

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