The Decalogue (class film, Elizabeth White)

  Midrash is a Jewish approach to understanding biblical texts. Peshat is the literal meaning of a text, remez is the deep meaning, darash is the comparative meaning, and sod is the secret meaning. Midrash is a mix of remez and darash, the deep and comparative meanings of a text. Film works well as a visual Midrash because it does not tell the viewers what to think of it. Many films do not even have a narrator leading the audience one way or another. The audience must simply watch the visuals, listen to the sounds, and make their own understanding of the story. The cinematography can push viewers towards the director’s intention, but it cannot force them to understand it in any way but their own. As it states in the assignment post, the commandments are only useful if the reader puts them into their own life. However, few people are going to act a certain way or truly believe something simply because it was told to them. They must decide it is applicable to their own lives. After the Babylonian diaspora, the people could not just use the old laws as written. They had to interpret the deeper biblical meanings and the ways they could compare it to their contemporary world. It is similar for the commandments and

The Decalogue. Kieslowski gives the audience a new way to consider the commandments and understand them in the context of their world. From there, it is the audience’s choice to interpret their own deeper meanings of the films and apply it to their lives. A specific visual from the first film that really affected me was the ice. The young boy falls into the frozen lake and at the end of the film, the holy water at the church is frozen as well. The story deals with death and the fear of what comes after. The father put all his faith in technology, but now that his son is gone he reaches to God for help in his grief. The shot of Mary crying fits the idea of Midrash because it does not tell us what to take from it. Was it pure chance? Was it God reaching out? It is up to the audience to decide how they feel about the story and about the commandment in the context of the sad tale.

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