Synopsis:

In a 10 hour mini-series, Kieslowski attempts to film the Bible's 10 Commandments in a variety of circumstances. Taking each commandment, he attaches the inner workings of the lives of Polish families in a way that I have never before seen. Each piece is an hour-long look into the despair & turmoil of a severely economically depressed Poland. In two discs, he depicts the innner & outer turmoil life in Poland can produce. Actually, they could have been staged anywhere in the world & the despair would have been the same. Why he chose the Ten Commandments as a backdrop, I'll never know. Not one of these hour long dramas adresses any of the tenets of the Commandments. But, that's the name of the series none-the-less.

Disc One:

Episodes One through Five:

Episode I : What is Death?

In this episode, a university professor denies his upbringing & the existence of God in favor of the perceived innfallallability of mathematics. His world is driven not by faith in God but in Pythagorean theorems. So much so, that he places his son's life in the hands of his mathematical deity & the results are tragic. His son wants to try out the skates he's to receive for Christmas. After checking & rechecking the temperatures & Ice thickness for the past several days, mathematically, all should be well. Sadly, things don't always turn out the way we'd like them too, even after doing all the work you can do to assure success. With sirens blaring & parents screaming, the father refuses to believe that any ill has befallen his child. Refusing to go to the pond, he believes that his son is alive & well & skating perhaps on another pond, out of harm's way. It is not until the very end of the episode, that the father realizes his mistake & the great cost he has incurred. Terribly gripping & tragic, Episode #1 is in a word…intense.

Episode II : The Doctor

Episode #2 is entitled, The Doctor. A woman's husband is in hospital & not doing well at all. She is however three months pregnant with another man's child. If her husband lives, she will abort the fetus & should he die, she will keep the child & stay with her lover. The Polish Medical system as portrayed here is deplorable. There are bugs in the food & "brown" water dripping from a ceiling where not only is the paint chipping, it's falling to the floor as well. Patient families are only advised of their status on Wednesdays & then only by invitation. Additionally, the relationship between Doctor & patient/patient families is strained at best. In any event, the woman, Dorota, consults her husbands' physician who, also lives in her building. The physician advises her rather reluctantly to keep the child as her husband in his opinion, will not survive his illness. In this episode it pays to get all the information you can about everything & everyone before you make any decisions. Episode #2 is startling in it's portrayal of Medicine in Poland & the treatment of the patients & their families.

Episode III : Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve in Poland & all is well. "Santa Claus" has made his visits to the apartment buildings & has now settled in with his wife for an evening of reflection & thanksgiving. The phone rings & Janusz ("Santa") is told that someone is attempting to steal his car. Dropping everything, Janusz runs out to check on his vehicle. Much to his surprise, his car is right where he left it. As he is returning home he notices a woman smoking on the patio of his apartment building. It is his ex-lover Ewa. She is crying & distraught as she has been unable to locate her husband & fears the worst. Not knowing anywhere else to turn, she comes to Janusz for help. Initially, he is unwilling to assist her. After all, it is Christmas Eve & he too is now married. However, common sense gives way to charity & Janusz agrees to take Ewa all over the city in search of her husband, Edward. The first stops are the city hospitals & morgues. There is an initial report of a legless corpse that has turned up in a hospital not far from the first they canvassed & off they go to make a grim discovery. This kind of pursuit goes on all night, from hospital to morgue & back to her apartment. It seems that these two shared a love/hate relationship that for all intents & purposes is why they are no longer an item. All however, is not as it seems in this particular episode as Janusz will soon find out. This is really a tale about the idea of love as a concept as opposed to the real thing. As such, both Janusz & Ewa will learn what the real thing is before Christmas day arrives.

Episode IV : Two of a Kind

A twenty-something year old & her dad share a special bond. She still lives at home & greets her dad with pouring a bucket of cold water on his head to wake him each morning! Her dad counters with a complimentary cold water dousing as she's just finished drying her hair & is preparing for the day at hand. One day as her father is preparing for a business trip abroad, she stumbles across an envelope that reads : "to be opened upon my death" in her mother's handwriting. Anxious to "hear" her mother's words, she reads the letter & finds out that Michal, is not her real father. This knowledge brings about all kinds of thoughts & none of them are good. Immediately, she begins reflecting on her childhood when Michal, use to rub her back under her nightgown, to soothe her to sleep at night. She recalls, the showers & play times & "remembers" inappropriate touching & holding, all at the hands of her "father" Michal. Upon his return she confronts him with the letter & accuses him of sexually molesting her as a child. She then goes so far as to undress & invite him to have sex with her as he is not really her father. This is all too much for Michal & he does his best to assuage her concerns. When he can take it no longer, he goes to bed hoping to sleep the pains of the accusations away. When morning comes, Anka awakens looking for Michal. Evidently, her dreams exonerated Michal & she is anxious to forgive him & get back to living life as it was before the letter. When she realizes he is not at home she flies into a worried, frantic state & is unsettled until she sees him walking the path toward town. Confusion & accusation coupled with delusion is the order of Episode IV. Not only did she unjustly accuse Michal of crimes he didn't commit, she burns the letter in front of him & exclaims, "It's burnt, I don't know what it says?" Truly, truly confusing.

Episode V : Natural Laws

In the most disturbing episode yet, a psychotic youth, Jacek, goes on a vicious crime spree. One of the nastier moments has him pushing a man down into an open pit urinal…absolutely disgusting. His spree culminates in the random beating & subsequent brutal murder of a cab driver. While he is a criminal he is not a brilliant criminal & as such he is apprehended in no time. The lawyer that represents him is new & not quite educated in the ways of justice in the face of both physical & circumstantial evidence. Needless to say, his client is convicted & sentenced to death for his crime. Piotr his attorney, feels personally responsible for the verdict & questions the Judge in chambers if his inexperience played a part in the verdict of death. The Judge assures him that his client was well represented & that the decision reached was the only one that could have been concluded given the evidence in the case. On the day of Jacek's execution, Piotr is summoned to the prison. Evidently, Jacek wishes to speak with him. Unaware of what to do or say, Piotr reluctantly goes to the prison to speak with his client. With no remorse for his crimes yet, tears for his mother, Jacek thanks Piotr for al he ahs done & prepares to die. Moments after the conclusion of the conversation, The prison guards burst in & escort Jacek to the place of his execution. The method of death is hanging & after a last cigarette and a brief attempt at escape, Jacek is handcuffed & hanged. Given the looks by both executioner & witness, you are made to wonder who the monsters really are. Make no mistake, Jacek was worthy of death for his crime however, his executioner looked to have enjoyed his job far too much for my tastes. Perhaps that was the director's intent. As there is no commentary track, we'll never know.

(Review Continued for Disc 2)