Thursday, April 2, 2009

Decalogue #10



Of Kieslowski's ten films in this series, Decalogue #10 ("Thou Shalt Not Covet Thy Neighbor's Possessions") would probably be considered his most light-hearted... you could even say comedic,  in nature.

Two brothers, opposites in almost every way, are brought together after the sudden death of their father, an avid stamp collector.  The brothers -- one (Arturo) a rock musician, the other (Jerzy) a nondescript businessman, don't seem to be that interested in money or even in their father.  But this is before they discover that his stamp collection is worth a considerable sum of money.

Suddenly possessive of the stamps, the brothers begin to change, becoming less trusting of one another, less so of other people, and they certainly become more materialistic.  They slowly get pulled into the stamp collecting underworld of con artists and one of the brothers (Jerzy) literally trades a piece of his flesh for a valuable stamp.

This film is a wonderfully executed tale which illustrates this particular Commandment with creativity and high artistic merit.

A worthy film to end the series with...