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Dekalog: One

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Wikipedia article




'Dekalog: One' is the first part of 'Dekalog', the drama series of films directed by Polish director Krzysztof Kielowski for television, possibly connected to the first and second imperatives of the Ten Commandments: '"I am the Lord your God; you shall have no other gods before me" and "Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image."'

A university professor (Henryk Baranowski) trains his young son in the use of reason and the scientific method, but is confronted with the unpredictability of fate. Reason is defied with tragic results.http://www.film.u-net.com/Movies/Reviews/Dekalog_1.html Episode synopsis and review

Plot



Krzysztof lives alone with Pawe, his 12-year-old and highly intelligent son, and introduces him to the world of personal computers. They have several PCs in their flat and do many experiments with programming such as opening/closing the doors or turning on/off the tap water with help of the PC.

One cold winter morning Pawe asks his father to give him a physics problem to solve. Krzysztof does so and Pawe solves it very quickly on his computer. Later Pawe becomes depressed at the sight of a stray dead dog and begins to wonder about deeper things in life. When asked about the nature of death, his father gives him a cold and objective explanation of death as the ending of all vital functions.

A TV crew comes to Pawe's school and takes several shots of Pawe and his schoolmates for their story on the poor quality of milk in public schools. Pawe creates a program that allows him to know what his mother is doing (she appears to be living on a different continent, since the program also calculates time zone differences), but the computer is unable to answer as to what she dreams. Irene, however, Pawe's aunt, answers easily: she dreams of Pawe. Pawe also believes that his father's computer must know his mother's dreams. Pawe talks to his aunt about what his father said about death; she elaborates on that and talks about the soul and religion. Irene and Krzysztof discuss Pawe's decision to take religious courses at the local church.

One day when arriving home, Krzysztof and Pawe notice that Krzysztof's computer turned itself on. Pawe and his father use the computer to calculate if it is possible for him to skate on the ice, to see whether it would hold him. After filling in the data into the computer, the PC says that the expected ice would hold many times Pawe's weight. Krzysztof even goes to the lake and corroborates that the ice is strong enough to hold him.

Pawe finds a pair of skates, meant to be a Christmas gift, under the couch, and wants to try them on the lake not far away from their home. His father gives his permission because the computer tells him the ice will be thick enough to withstand three times the boy's weight. The father puts his faith in the power of scientific computations. The next day, Krzysztof hears firemen's sirens going off and people rushing to the lake. Later the mother of a classmate of Pawe's comes distraught to Krzysztof; the English lesson where Pawe was supposed to be was cancelled due to the teacher's illness and due to the ice on the lake apparently having broken. Krzysztof remains calm at first and refuses to believe that the ice could have broken, since his calculations clearly indicated that this was not possible. After searching all around the neighborhood he gets confirmation from one of Pawe's friends that Pawe was skating at the time of the accident.

Irene and Krzysztof are desperate when the rescue services recover corpses from the freezing water (Pawe is not specifically shown to be among them, but Krzysztof and Irene's reaction seems to indicate as such). Krzysztof returns home to find that his computer has turned itself on again, indicating that it is ready. Krzysztof later walks into a provisional church, destroying a small altar to the Black Madonna of Czstochowa, in the process knocking over a candle that drips wax onto the icon's face, making it appear to be crying. The film ends as Krzysztof, in tears, sinks to his knees and tries to cross himself with holy water on his forehead, but the water is frozen.

Cast



*Henryk Baranowski - Krzysztof: an atheist, professor of linguistics at the university.

*Wojciech Klata - Pawe: Krzysztof's 12-year-old son.

*Maja Komorowska - Irena: Krzysztof's sister, she deeply believes in God and does not understand her brother much but they respect each other and have in common their love for little Pawe.

*Artur Barci - man in the sheepskin

*Maria Gadkowska - English teacher

*Agnieszka Brustman chess player

*Ewa Kania - Ewa Jezierska

*Aleksandra Kisielewska - woman

*Aleksandra Majsiuk - Ola

*Magda Sroga-Mikoajczyk - journalist

Extras

*Anna Smal-Romaska

*Maciej Sawiski,

*Piotr Wyrzykowski

*Boena Wrbel

References



Category:1989 films

Category:1988 drama films

Category:1988 films

Category:Films directed by Krzysztof Kielowski

Category:Films scored by Zbigniew Preisner

Category:1980s Polish-language films

Category:Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Piesiewicz

Category:Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Kielowski

Category:1989 crime drama films

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