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Information
- Year
- 1989
- Runtime
- 572 min.
- Director
- -
- Genre
- Drama
- Rating *
- 9.0
- Votes *
- 12,406
- Checks
- 4,007
- Favs
- 719
- Dislikes
- 22
- Favs/checks
- 17.9% (1:6)
- Favs/dislikes
- 33:1
Top comments
-
Siskoid
I'm a huge fan of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski (The Double Life of Veronique, Three Colors trilogy) and the Decalogue is his reaction to someone saying there ought to be a film about the Ten Commandments to counterpoint the sex and violence in late 80s cinema. He made ten. These one-hour dramas aired on Polish television, and if you were to fit them into the color scheme of his later films (Veronique as gold/yellow, and the Three Colors' Blue, White and Red), it would be Gray. Though each film has its own characters, they are set in and around the same gray concrete apartment building in Warsaw. Only one film could actually be called "colorful". But it's the content that truly merits the "gray" label. The films' themes aren't really one-for-one with each of the Commandments, but rather explorations of how several of them could contradict one another. Morality isn't a black and white thing that can be codified the way religion sometimes tries to, and Kieslowski's characters are trapped in ethical puzzles that surprise and confound by their anti-formulaic presentation. The stories character-based, the endings poignant by their ambiguity. None of them left me cold, and I wish I'd watched them with other people, because each deserved a good discussion afterwards. A great achievement. 8 years 10 months ago -
hydra815
Truly an inspired work. A vast undertaking that manages to follow the Kieslowski model by stirring up those impossible to articulate feelings inside you whilst still maintaining an intelligent and thought-provoking dialectic.
Understandably not to everyone's tastes due to the bleak underscore of each episode but nevertheless an important piece of work that should be remembered for a long time to come. 11 years 8 months ago -
danielrayrod
Television should aspire to achieve this level of quality more often. How amazing Keislowski's capacity to look into human souls and propose sceneries for our capacities for bad and good. Deep and cruelly ironic view of humans immersed in Christian values that struggle with ideas of their own, and what faith has in store.
Even tough the stories are mostly unrelated,the same apartment complex plays an important role in all the episodes; maybe representing the unity of a more community, the church and its parishioners. 12 years ago
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In 11 official lists
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This movie ranks #24 in IMDb's Mini-Series Top 50
IMDb's Mini-Series Top 50
24 -
This movie ranks #40 in Empire's The 100 Best Films of World Cinema
Empire's The 100 Best Fi…
40 -
This movie ranks #88 in Stanley Kubrick, Cinephile
Stanley Kubrick, Cinephi…
88 -
This movie ranks #101 in Roger Ebert's Great Movies
Roger Ebert's Great Movi…
101 -
This movie ranks #168 in TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest Films
TSPDT's 1,000 Greatest F…
168 -
This movie ranks #204 in The New York Times's Book of Movies
The New York Times's Boo…
204 -
This movie ranks #232 in Sight & Sound's The Greatest Films of All Time
Sight & Sound's The Grea…
232 -
This movie ranks #280 in Harvard's Suggested Film Viewing: Narrative Films
Harvard's Suggested Film…
280 -
This movie ranks #799 in 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die
1001 Movies You Must See…
799 -
This movie ranks #824 in Jonathan Rosenbaum's Essential Cinema
Jonathan Rosenbaum's Ess…
824 -
This movie ranks #996 in The Criterion Collection
The Criterion Collection
996