Film Review: Kieslowski’s ‘Dekalog’

Krzysztof Kieslowski’s ten-part mini-series ‘Dekalog’ is broadly inspired by the Ten Commandments and traces the moral dilemmas of those in a Communist housing complex.
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It predates Netflix binging, appointment television, and “TV too good for TV.” Arguably, the nearest precedent for Krzysztof Kieslowski’s ten-part mini-series broadly inspired by the Ten Commandments would be Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s epic “Berlin Alexanderplatz”—auteur filmmaking applied to the television serial format—but the thematic and narrative similarities are few and far between.

Using the residents of a grim Panelak-style Communist housing complex, Kieslwoski and co-screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz pose many thorny moral questions, but offer few answers in the digitally restored “Dekalog,”  which screens theatrically in two-hour, two-episode installments, starting this Friday in New York.

'Dekalog' is a towering achievement and a deeply challenging moral and aesthetic statement.
Joe Bendel
Joe Bendel
Author
Joe Bendel writes about independent film and lives in New York City. To read his most recent articles, visit JBSpins.blogspot.com
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