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Dekalog - The Ten Commandments - Parts 6-10 [1988] DVD ~ Ewa Blaszczyk  (3)  £9.97

The Double Life Of Veronique [1991] DVD ~ Irene Jacob  (16)  £9.97

The Krzysztof Kieslowski Collection (REGION 1) (NTSC) DVD ~ Miroslaw Baka

Krzysztof Kieslowski's The Decalogue [1988] (REGION 1) (NTSC) DVD ~ Maria Koscialkowska  (2)

Three Colours Trilogy DVD ~ Juliette Binoche  (14)  £19.48

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Amazon.co.uk Review
"A terrible idea, of course", was Krzysztof Kieœlowski's first reaction when his co-scriptwriter, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, first suggested the idea for Dekalog--a series of 10 one-hour films, each inspired by one of the Ten Commandments. But from this unpromising beginning came an edgy, unsettling tour de force, the culmination of Kieœlowski's work in his native Poland and, quite possibly, the last cinematic masterpiece to come out of Communist Eastern Europe.

The full Dekalog consists of ten one-hour films: this pair of double discs contains the first five. The links to the specific commandments are often oblique and imprecise, and shouldn't be taken too literally. Kieœlowski is using this framework not as a direct exposition of Mosaic Law, nor even as a commentary on its relevance today, but rather as a series of meditations on the complexity of moral choices. All the films are set in the same drab high-rise Warsaw housing estate, and characters from one story will show up the background of others, passing across the frame as they go about their business. One young man who appears in nearly all the films never plays a leading role nor even speaks a line, but remains a watchful, melancholy presence, haunting and disquieting, gazing at the events unfolding around him like an uneasy conscience.

Grim though these stories are, there's often a note of ironic humour leavening the overall bleakness. But this set ends with one of the grimmest of all. In Dekalog 5 a young man murders a taxi driver for no apparent reason, then is executed himself. Both deaths are equally squalid and appalling. This episode was later expanded to feature-film length with the title A Short Film About Killing. The greater length enhanced its impact; it's a pity that room wasn't found for that longer version here.

On the DVDs: Dekalog, Parts 1-5 offers very little additional material. The second disc, which contains episodes 4 and 5, also includes a brief on-screen text biography and filmography for Kieœlowski. The films are shown in their original 4:3 ratio, in a crisp clean transfer. --Philip Kemp

Video Description
DVD Special Features:

Krzysztof Kieslowski biography and filmography
Polish with English Subtitles
Original 4:3 aspect ratio
Dolby Digital 1.0

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Dekalog - The Ten Commandments - Parts 6-10 [1988] DVD ~ Ewa Blaszczyk  (3)  £9.97

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9 Reviews 5 star:  (9) 4 star:    (0) 3 star:    (0) 2 star:    (0) 1 star:    (0)           Average Customer Review (9 customer reviews)		Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews   31 of 32 people found the following review helpful: Brilliant films, mediocre DVD, 1 Jul 2003 By A Customer While Dekalog is undoubtedly one of the great achievements of cinema, the Electric Eye DVDs could be far better. Although the transfer is adequate, it is apparently not from the original prints or broadcast videotape; the English subtitles are on the print itself and cannot therefore be turned off (and, of course, there are no original Polish-language subtitles); and like too many DVDs, the layer changes occur in the middle of scenes rather than between them. Worst of all, the original opening and closing credits have been replaced with a kitschy graphic montage (in which the T in "commandments" is a Christian cross, which suggests at best a crass misunderstanding of the films) and the Polish names are displayed without the appropriate accents.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   13 of 13 people found the following review helpful: A Monumental Achievemet, 1 Jun 2002 By A Customer Decalogue is a monumental achievement: a remarkable examination of moral tale colliding, and often yielding, against the bounds of human frailty. Kieslowski crafts each episode with a distinctive signature, creating serenely indelible, spare, and poetic imagery. Each of the ten episodes of the series is a profound observation on the trials and tribulations of everyday life, reflected in complex ways - direct and abstruse - but all fundamentally, and infalliably, human.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this)   9 of 9 people found the following review helpful: Thou shalt watch these films..., 7 April 2006 By  James Choles (Brighton) - See all my reviews    Like most people I thought that Kieslowski's famous 'Three Colours' trilogy was the director's masterpiece. Life-altering though these films were, I now know I was wrong. Because the 'Dekalog' is simply devastating. Each film is a profound meditation on the themes of love, loss, time and chance, among a whole host of other things. Set in a Warsaw housing estate at the tail-end of the 1980's, each attempts to explain the complexities of what it means to be human: to lose a child, to be spurned by a prospective lover, to be sentenced to death [as, of course, we all are]. These films could only have been made by a man with a supreme faith in humankind, a faith that, as the films progess, we learn has come to supplant any belief in the supernatural or God himself. Brilliant.  Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? (Report this) › See all 9 customer reviews...		Most Recent Customer Reviews Astounding! Although made for television these 5 'plays' remain very cinematic in form. These films are 'high art' and are directed with the brilliance you would expect from Kielowski... Read more Published 7 months ago by F. Candlish Perfection Other reviewers have quite elloquently summed up this amazing collection in their reviews on this page so I feel no need to replicate their opinions. Read more Published 21 months ago by Film Fan Totally absorbing I finished watching the last one last night and I never wanted it to end. First lets get the one downside out of the way: The audio quality has a lot to answer for! Read more Published on 28 Mar 2006 by Mr. S. J. Robson A Classic of East European Cinema "Dekalog" consists of ten ,one-hour long films ,each based loosely on one of the Ten Commandments. Each film is set in a stereotypical drab ,high-rise housing estate in Warsaw... Read more Published on 1 Feb 2006 by L. Davidson One of the greatest works of art th