DVD Reviews

The Decalogue

Krzysztof Kieslowski (Three Colours Trilogy) has always been a director that took on adamant When he was given the idea to produce a film on the Ten Commandments, Kieslowski began work on not one but ten films on the Ten Commandments, all approximately an hour long and all produced for Polish television. The Decalogue became a big hit and was praised by critics upon release, but was not given international exhibition for many years after largely because of the difficulty exhibiting ten one-hour films. But they were finally made available to the public on home video, including here in North America, only a few years ago. Now the entire collection of The Decalogue has been made available on DVD in a three-disc special edition, giving the films the showcase it so rightfully deserves and giving fans of Kieslowski’s films a package for The Decalogue they can be happy with.

The ten films are spread across three discs, with special features contained on discs one and three. Although these films were originally made for Polish television and therefore were given a low budget to produce, the presentations of these films in this set are quite poor. With a bland mono soundtrack and a grainy, unsaturated contrast image, the films practically look and sound as good as they were originally seen on television, which is not very good. This is quite unsatisfactory most notably in the picture quality considering the powerful imagery contained in each of the films, and should have been cleaned up and remastered for this release so people can truly experience The Decalogue the way it was meant to be seen. Though the features are limited, they do offer some extra insight into the film and can be considered as required viewing for these films. Film critic Roger Ebert provides a great introduction to the films on disc one that are really essential viewing for those unfamiliar to The Decalogue. Disc three contains the remaining features, which are an adequate selection to go along with this set. It includes an interview with Kieslowski, behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with colleagues on working with Kieslowski, and a booklet containing more interviews and production notes.

Though you cannot watch all ten films at once, this set is definitely worth checking out, whether you are a fan of Kieslowski or if you are intrigued by the concept of ten films based on the Ten Commandments. These are truly excellent films and are without a doubt some of Kieslowski’s best work of his short career. It is unfortunate, though, that these films were not remastered for this release because as great as they may look already these film can look so much better. But that is not a reason to not see these compelling films. Despite its presentation it is a fine DVD set for an excellent set of films produced by a master of filmmaking. Give the films the attention it deserves and watch The Decalogue on DVD when you can.

Review By Chris Emery