Allie Hanscom, Decalogue 1 and 5

The Decalogue films 1 and 5 are both artistic visualizations of two Commandments from the Bible. These films works as Midrash because they cause the viewer to search for the meaning of the Commandments in their own situation.
Film 1 was a dramatization of the 1st Commandment: “Thou shall have no other gods before me”. In this film, the father has rejected faith and decided to trust in the things that can be measured or proven. He is a professor at a University and in my opinion, is represented as a free-thinking intellectual trying to find meaning in the world rather than the Word. The father’s young son comes to him with many questions about life and death, expecting that his father has the answers. However, the father doesn’t have a deep or meaningful explanation about life or death for his son because he refuses to search for meaning beyond what can be measured. The young boy tragically dies at the end of the film by falling into a frozen lake, which was not supposed to happen according to the father’s careful calculations. After his death, the father begins to process his shock and grief by going to the chapel where he sees a painting on the wall of the Virgin and Child. In anger and despair, he knocks down a few candles mounted on the altar in front of the painting. The wax from the candles is shown dripping over Mary’s face, as if they were tears of sorrow that she was sharing with the father. In this moment, the father connects with the sacred—Mary could relate to the father’s suffering, since they had both lost their only son. This brings us back to a place where we’re searching for meaning in the film. The father broke the 1st Commandment in this film by trusting in himself to get everything right, rather than trusting in God to guide him. This film helps contextualize the 1st Commandment in a way that the viewer can understand and relate to emotionally. The filmmakers capture the profane events and moments of everyday life to visually and emotionally contrast the moments of tremendum after the child’s death. The child’s death comes as a shock and sends the viewer into a tail spin of confusion as we try to search for meaning. The meaning becomes apparent when the father goes back to his house and stares at the computer screen that once read the number of how much weight the ice could support before the boy went skating. This visual indicates the meaning: don’t trust in horses or chariots to save, but trust in God alone. That is the eternal truth that is depicted through this one moment, allowing the viewer to integrate this truth into their own life.
 The second film we watched visually depicts the 6th Commandment: “Thou shall not kill”. In this film, we follow a young man’s life before and after he kills a cab driver with absolutely no motive. The young man had no mercy when he murdered the cab driver—the act of violence was brutish and senseless. The young man is caught and is given the death sentence. Before he is taken to the room where he will be hung, he is shown talking with the lawyer who opposed capital punishment. The young man is humanized as he tells the lawyer of his life, and how he left his home after his sister tragically died. This was done by the filmmakers so that we could relate to the man, even though he was sitting on death row for committing murder. Capital punishment is likened to murder in this film, as the life of the young man is violently taken into the hands of another. The scene where the man is hung is also shown to visually connect the two murders: the cab driver and his killer. Both acts were violence, brutish and instances where one man’s life is taken into the hands of another. This film also helps contextualize a Commandment in the Bible, challenging the viewer to consider how they interpret the meaning of the Word and how to apply it to their own lives.

My question is this: how have these films challenged your own personal beliefs/interpretations of the Commandments? Why is it important to ask ourselves these questions to improve our society? 

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