Critic Reviews
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Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News
See part of it, or see all of it. Just be glad it's around.
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Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune
An overwhelming psychological and spiritual epic for our times.
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Judy Stone, San Francisco Chronicle
There is no question that Dekalog is the summit of Kieslowski's achievements.
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Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
All of the films in The Decalogue are easy and pleasurable to follow as stories, yet part of the excitement they generate stems from discussions about their meaning after their dramatic impact registers.
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Stephen Holden, New York Times
A masterwork of modern cinema, essential viewing for anyone who cares about the movies as a serious art form.
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Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The 10 films are not philosophical abstractions but personal stories that involve us immediately; I hardly stirred during some of them.
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Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Brilliant and moving, a masterpiece about the fragility of human nature.
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Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
... a stone masterpiece.
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Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Not only ranks as one of the most ambitious and challenging film works ever attempted, but one of the most rewarding and unforgettable.
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Steven D. Greydanus, Decent Films Guide
Far from being morality tales, these short stories are closer to parables — at least, they are as confounding and strange as Jesus' parables were to his first hearers.
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Greg Muskewitz, eFilmCritic.com
Highly ambitious, and though every 'episode' may not be up to par as are others, it still remains a risky and commendable work.
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Joshua Tanzer, Offoffoff
Most of the films put characters into situations in which they cannot obey one commandment without breaking others. Challenges you to figure out how to be a moral person in a world with no easy answers.
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Luke Y. Thompson, New Times
Who knows how often you'll actually want to watch the whole thing, but it's masterful film-making nonetheless.
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Collin Souter, eFilmCritic.com
Amongst the greatest stories ever told. No serious film scholar can afford to miss it.
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Scott Tobias, AV Club
The Decalogue finds Kieslowski and co-scenarist Krzysztof Piesiewicz turning a delicate cycle of intimate, funny, heartbreaking, and compassionate works into a symphony of human fallibility.
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Jason Anderson, eye WEEKLY
The original series of 10 hour-long films has all of the qualities that mark Kieslowski's better-known work.
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, San Francisco Examiner
A masterpiece of modern times.
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David Sterritt, Christian Science Monitor
Some of the dramas raise issues of violence and sexuality that may disturb some viewers but remind us that the human failings addressed by the commandments challenge our consciences today as much as in Old Testament times.
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Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
A masterpiece of modern times that puts most other movies out there to shame. If you care about movies at all, put everything else on your 'must-see' list aside and go see this.
Read all 19 critic reviews
Featured Audience Ratings
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Epic! It's well worth the time commitment to watch these modern envisionments of the ten commandments. These interpretations are rife with ethical ambiguity, forcing the viewer to question and analyze their moral assumptions.
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Decalogue I - 5/5
Decalogue II - 4/5
Decalogue III - 4/5
Decalogue IV -
Decalogue V - 4/5
Decalogue VI - 3.5/5
Decalogue VII -
Decalogue VIII -
Decalogue IX -
Decalogue X -
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Oh yes. Get all ten films from the library and set aside the time to watch them. All of them cause a different part of the brain to think...really think about relationships between people.
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Will write more in the future...
Decalogue One: I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me.
So far I have watched the first episode. The Decalogue is Krzysztof Kieslowski's representation of The Ten Commandments. I was imediately pulled in, the story of… More
Will write more in the future...
Decalogue One: I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me.
So far I have watched the first episode. The Decalogue is Krzysztof Kieslowski's representation of The Ten Commandments. I was imediately pulled in, the story of father and son both intelligent but is skeptical on the forces of God. The father is an atheist and has great difficult dealing with God and the realities of death.
Decalogue Two: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Not as provoking as the first but still enjoyed the premise. An old man who happens to be a doctor lives in an apt. A young woman who also lives in the same apt complex is seen smoking. At first she is reluctant to talk to him but later conforonts and asks if he knows her. She asks the doctor if her husband is going to live and he responds "I don't know". The reason why she asks is beccause she is pregnant with another man, if her husband lives she will abort the pregnancy if the husband dies she will let the child live so the doctor has to decide and give her a reasonably answer. The doctor swears to give her a solution. The dying husband also has a say and it's amazing what he says on screen. It's unique how characters happen to crash into each other at ill turning events.
Decalogue 3: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.
Episode 3 is great and pretty much sad. A story about a man and a woman who use to be in an affair join together Christmas Eve. It's clear what the woman's true motives is but it's also great to see how mature the man handles the woman so called games. In other words they keep things holy.
Decalogue 4: Honor thy father and thy mother.
One of the best episodes so far. Young Anka and her father have lived together since her mother's death, and have always been more like close friends than father and daughter. One day, Anka discovers a letter from her mother whose contents make her question her whole relationship with her father. It's amazing when the truths reveal and how mature Anka and Michal deal with their personal struggle of bitter resentment. The ending with the burning of the letter is just as complex as with the sled name Rosebud in "Citizen Kane".
Decalogue 5: Thou shalt not kill.
Decalogue 5 is whoa...I won't even explain the details except a carefree kid who winds up in jail and suffers the consequences.
Decalogue 6: Thou shalt not commit adultery.
A naive young man Tomek spies on a woman, Magda through her window and falls in love with her. Dec 6 would have to be my fav and i'm sure it inspired filmmaker Patrice Lacontice to make the great "Monsiere Hire".
Decalogue 7: Thou shalt not steal.
I didn't really care for this episode. Found it boring and a little bit uninteresting. The story involves a woman kidnapping a little girl but is in fact her real daughter. The woman's mother believes her daughter is not capable of raising her daughter and it's evident when the child cries in her sleep. The final scenes were disappointing maybe because I knew the kidnapping mother wouldn't hear from her daughter and family again. Maybe it's all for the better.
Decalogue 8: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
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Individually, each film is good. As a whole it's just too much.
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