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Features: DVD
"One of the great movie achievements of our time" (Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune), Krzysztof Kieslowski's Decalogue explores the timeless moral issues of human existence through ten contemporary tales, each based on one of the Ten Commandments. Originally produced for Polish television, this brilliant series of ten separate but subtly intertwining films transcended the boundaries of film and TV, winning honors in both arenas as it played around the world. The Decalogue won the FIPRESCI Award at the 1989 Venice Film Festival, was honored as Best Foreign Television Program by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts and was named Best Foreign Language Film by the Chicago Film Critics Association in 1997. Each episode was co-written by Kieslowski's longtime collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz and features music by Zbigniew Preisner.
"One of the indisputably great accomplishments of modern filmmaking." Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times
"One of the few masterpieces of recent times." Village Voice
"A masterpiece..." Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
Editor's Note
One of the greatest and most ambitious cinematic achievements, Krzysztof Kieslowski's THE DECALOGUE consists of 10 short films inspired by the Ten Commandments. Each film takes place in and around the same area of late-20th-century Warsaw, provoking timeless ethical and moral questions for this era. Specifically, the films address personal issues dealing with family, friends, love, life, and death. Winner of awards from the Venice, São Paulo, and Cannes film festivals and originally made for Polish television, Kieslowski's masterwork has been screened all over the world to international acclaim. The video release will give viewers the opportunity to revisit each episode and discover characters from the other films that pop up in the background of the current story and might also help to better explain the mysterious presence of Artur Barcis, a quiet onlooker who might be an angel or a devil. Kieslowski, collaborating with cowriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, has made a series of films that feel small and intimate yet are actually epic commentaries on modern human existence, making THE DECALOGUE a lasting work of art.
Plot Summary
Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski's acclaimed 10-part series THE DECALOGUE, originally shot for Polish television, concerns morality and ethics as manifested in the lives of singular yet universal characters in late-20th-century Warsaw who wrangle with questions of truth, fate, deception, and consequence. The films, inspired by the Ten Commandments, are emotionally complex, substantial works that can stand alone or be watched together, making timeless viewing.
| Features | Interview With Scriptwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz | | Introduction By Film Critic Roger Ebert | | Three Short Documentaries About Director Krzysztof Kieslowski: "On The Set Of The Decalogue," "Kieslowski Meets The Press," And "Kieslowski Known And Unknown," | | Printed Booklet With An Introduction By Kieslowski |
| Technical Info
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Release Information
| | Studio: Facets Multimedia |
| Release Date: 8/19/2003 |
| Running Time: 600 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 1988 | | Catalog ID: 64059 | | UPC: 00736899031169 | | Number of Discs: 2 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: Polish | | Available Audio Tracks: Polish | | Available Subtitles: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
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| | Professional Reviews | New York Times
"...[The series] stands as a masterwork of modern cinema, essential viewing for anyone who cares about the movies as a serious art form..." 06/12/2000 p.E16Premiere
"...Fresh, vivid, living art....Relentlessly contemporary..." -- 5 out of 5 stars 05/01/2000 p.98 Entertainment Weekly
"...Riveting....Kieslowski's late-'80s masterpiece..." -- Rating: A 08/11/2000 p.54 Entertainment Weekly
Ranked #1 in Entertainment Weekly's "BEST VIDEOS OF 2000"| 12/22/2000 pp.120-3 Los Angeles Times
"...Rarest of all are those films that are so accomplished, so overwhelming, so profound that seeing them on screen is nothing less than a privilege. Krzystof Kieslowski's THE DECALOGUE is such an event..." 06/26/1994 p.F4 Chicago Sun-Times
"...An extraordinary series of 10 films....The individual DECALOGUE films strike at a deep personal level..." 03/22/1996 p.30 USA Today
"...It manages to visualize ideas in compelling dramatic fashion....The rapturous praise bestowed upon the series is, indeed, well deserved..." 04/21/2000 p.10E Time Magazine 10 of 10
...every once in a while a unique film work appears on one screen as a lonely reminder of what cinema can summon in intelligence, scope and power. That would be Decalogue. - Richard Corliss
James Berardinelli's ReelViews 10 of 10
Anyone can make a movie about the Ten Commandments, but few such productions would share the subtlety and depth which characterize Kieslowski's vision. It isn't the subject matter per se that gives Decalogue its greatness--it's the manner in which the director handles his material.
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