Now Playing -- Dekalog

Erwin Goedicke recommended "Dekalog" to
me -- a polish filmmaker's 10 part TV series that
dramatizes the 10 Commandments. Set in a single
dreary apartment complex, the series follows the lives
of people who wrestle with, struggle, break, and keep
the commandments.

Just watched the first installment last night. Thou
Shalt Have No Other Gods Before Me is the first
commandment. This is a story of a man who has come to
enshrine systems, science, and technology over God.
However, he's not a cold man. He and his son have a
loving and affectionate relationship -- they are very
close. But his idolatry will cost him.
Interestingly, the cost is portrayed not as the
results of divine judgment, but of human hubris --
even so there is a strong faith presence in the film
through the character of the man's sister.

And then there's this interesting figure who looms
throughout the episode -- apparently he appears in
almost all the episodes. Some commentators call him
"the angel" while others think he's a Christ figure.

If the rest of the series is as touching, haunting,
and profound as episode one, this will be brilliant,
if heart wrenching, cycle of films.

Soli Deo Gloria
Russell