# Dekalog

Dekalog, also known as Dekalog: The Ten Commandments and The Decalogue is a 1989 Polish television drama series directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz.

## Dekalog: One

    I am the Lord thy God... thou shalt not have other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image... Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them.
    Paweł: Why do people die?
    Krzysztof: It depends — Heart failure, cancer, accidents, or just old age.
    Paweł: I mean, what is death?
    Krzysztof: Death? The heart ceases to pump blood, blood fails to reach the brain — everything stops., stops dead — and that's it.
    Paweł: What remains?
    Krzysztof: Everything you did. The memory of what you did, of you as a person. Memory's quite important, I guess. You remember there was somebody who walked with a funny leap, or who was a kind man. You remember his face, his smile, the gap in his front teeth.
    Paweł: It says here, a requiem mass: "may her soul rest in peace." You never said anything about the soul.
    Krzysztof: It's just a way to bid farewell. There isn't any soul.
    Paweł: Aunt Irena says there is …
    Krzysztof: Some people just find life easier if they believe in it.
    Paweł: What about you?
    Krzysztof: Me? I really don't know. What are you thinking about?
    Paweł: It's nothing. It's just — I was so glad in the morning when I managed to get that calculation right, and then the pigeon came for the bread crumbs; but I went shopping and saw a dead dog. I knelt over him, and I said to myself, what good is it? Who needs the information how long it will take Miss Piggy to catch up with Kermit? It doesn't make any sense.

### Cast

    Henryk Baranowski - Krzysztof
    Wojciech Klata - Paweł, Krzysztof's 12-year-old son
    Maja Komorowska - Irena, Krzysztof's sister

## Dekalog: Two

    Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

## Dekalog: Three

    Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.

## Dekalog: Four

    Honor thy father and thy mother.

## Dekalog: Five

    Thou shalt not kill. This episode was also expanded into the film: A Short Film About Killing

## Dekalog: Six

    Thou shalt not commit adultery. This was also expanded into A Short Film About Love.

## Dekalog: Seven

    Thou shalt not steal.

## Dekalog: Eight

    Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

## Dekalog: Nine

    Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife.

## Dekalog: Ten

    Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods.
    Artur [singing in City Death concert]: You shall murder! You shall covet everything all week long And on Sundays You shall beat your father and mother, your sister and your juniors You shall steal Because everything around you is yours Everything is yours!
    Eulogist: He sacrificed everything: passion, his family, his career, perhaps even his emotions. Taking leave of our late friend today, the winner of eleven international gold medals and participant of many exhibitions I would like to offer my condolences to his family. I bow down before this grave. Farewell, my friend.
    Artur [singing in City Death concert]: Darkness, darkness and jeer Jeer and lies Lies all week long, All week long You're the only hope The only glimmer You are everything Because everything is inside you.

### Cast

    Zbigniew Zamachowski - Artur
    Jerzy Stuhr - Jerzy

## External links

* Dekalog quotes at the Internet Movie Database
* Dekalog at Rotten Tomatoes
* Short overview of The Decalogue and some other Kieslowski films at www.filmref.com
* The Decalogue at the Arts & Faith Top100 Spiritually Significant Films list (2005)
* Voted #2 on The Arts and Faith Top 100 Films (2010)