Bella Rivas - Decalogue

     I really enjoyed watching Decalogue 1 and Decalogue 5. In the Decalogue, the visual medium of film works as midrash by allowing you to fully step into a story. It allows the viewer to participate in a unique experience where you are immersed into the story, which cultivates the possibility of experiencing the story. You are able to feel what the characters feel and able to think what the characters think. Because of this immersion into experience, the the viewer can draw meaning from the commandment by turning an objective law into a subjective situation where the outcome and answers are not always clear. In essence, emphasizing the ‘gray area’ of real life.
Both the Decalogue 1 and Decalogue 5 use visual imagery to convey emotion. In the Decalogue 1, there is symbolism in the scene where they pull the body out of the water. Everyone kneels but the father who lost his son. This could possibly be symbolic of how he does not have faith in the context of a majority-Catholic nation. There is also symbolism at the end when he pushes the altar, which results in the tears of Mary. In the Bible, Mary weeps because her son died. This scene shows that God shares in the pain of losing a son. This is also shown in the Bible when Jesus weeps when Lazarus dies. In reference to the first commandment, "Thou shall have no gods before Me," in the film, the man’s faith is clearly in knowledge and reason. In the film, the ink inexplicably breaks while he is writing, which foreshadows how the ice breaking happened even though it shouldn’t have.
A key symbol in Decalogue 5 is the homeless man showing up 3 different times. This gives a religious tone to the film because the Bible is filled with the number 3. This film brings up questions regarding murder; it forces the audience to question what they define murder as. It points out the irony of using capital punishment for murder. Which begs the question: what does "thou shall not kill" actually mean?
Both of these films work to bring the commandments to life. They force the audience to contextually analyze the commandment. It allows the viewer to subjectively view an objective principle, which puts the viewer in a place to consider what they believe to be true.

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