Dekalog - the Ten Commandments - Part 2 [DVD]

The double-disc set Dekalog, Parts 6-10, contains the last five of Kieslowski's 10 one-hour modern morality tales, each one loosely linked to one of the 10 Commandments. All set in and around the same drab, high-rise Warsaw housing estate, they intriguingly explore moral dilemmas without ever coming to any glib conclusions. As always, Kieslowski is far more interested in posing questions than in supplying answers. The series was originally made for Polish television, and has since been shown on TV stations all round the world, though never in the cinema. While they can easily be watched separately, being individual stories, there's no question that they gain in impact from being taken in conjunction with each other.

Kieslowski used a different cinematographer for each film (except Nos. 3 and 9, both photographed by Piotr Sobocinski) to give a distinct feel to each story. While none of them--as you might expect from this director--offer a barrel of laughs, some are decidedly lighter in tone. Indeed the series ends on an almost farcical note: Dekalog 10 tells the tale of two brothers seized with paranoia when their late father leaves them a valuable stamp collection. By contrast, Dekalog 6 is one of the most moving and compassionate in the collection: a woman who finds a young lad is obsessively spying on her inflicts an intolerable humiliation on him. This, like No. 5 in the series, was expanded by 25 minutes or so into a feature film, A Short Film about Love. Here too, it seems a pity that the longer version couldn't have been included in the set.

On the DVDs: Dekalog, Parts 1-6 is slightly better served for extras than the first set; this includes a 50-minute interview with Kieslowski, one of the last he gave before his early death. As usual, he stonewalls all the questions with barely concealed impatience. The transfer captures the muted colours of the original, and the Dolby 1.0 sound is crisp and clear. --Philip Kemp

DVD Special Features:

"A Short Film about Dekalog" An interview with Krzysztof Kieslowski by Eileen Anipare and Jason Wood
Polish with English Subtitles
Original 4:3 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital 1.0

i>Dekalog, from the acclaimed director of the Three Colours trilogy, Krzysztof Kieslowski, has been hailed as a masterpiece the world over. Loosely based on the Ten Commandments, the ten hour-long films are powerful and profound stories about ordinary people leading their everyday lives which explore the themes of love, loss, guilt, faith, fear and compassion. Stanley Kubrick praised Kieslowski and his co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz for their "very rare ability to dramatise their ideas rather than just talk about themThey do this with such dazzeling skill, you never see the ideas coming and don't realise until much later how profoundly they have reached your heart." This two disc set features the final five films, including the hour-long version of A Short Film about Love and also and exclusive interview with Kieslowski, one of the last he ever gave.