Movies

TC, Reel Spirituality to discuss The Decalogue

Josh Larsen

To mark the 25th anniversary of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s The Decalogue, a landmark series of 10 short films related to the Ten Commandments, TC and Reel Spirituality will be embarking on a joint viewing and discussion series. Along with Elijah Davidson, co-director of Reel Spirituality, I’ll be watching each film and then discussing it, both here and at the RS site. It’s our hope that some of you will join us.

Written with Krzysztof Piesiewicz and directed by Kieslowski, The Decalogue originally premiered on Polish television in 1989 as a series of one-hour installments. Set largely in a high-rise Warsaw apartment complex, the films focus on different characters and don’t always directly match one of the Mosaic laws. Yet each film explores what a moral framework looks like in “real” life. In his Great Movies essay on The Decalogue, Roger Ebert wrote, “At the end you see that the Commandments work not like science but like art; they are instructions for how to paint a worthy portrait with our lives.”

If you want to follow along with us and join in the discussion, there are a handful of ways you can get your hands on the series. It’s available via Netflix and at many local libraries. If you’re interested in purchasing the set, you can find it at Facets and Amazon.

Here’s the schedule we plan to follow for each installment, including which site will host the discussion each time:

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Topics: Movies