Passing-Thought

Decalogue I - another redemptive surprise

Yesterday, I introduced a few more of my friends to Kieslowski's Decalogue series. I typically begin by showing the first one, "Thou shall have no other gods before Me." As a result, I've seen the first of the Decalogue series at least ten times. Each time there's been something new I had not previously noticed, often by others in their first viewing.

This time someone noticed not just one, but two people being pulled out of the water. Sure enough, after rewinding it a number of times, we determined that indeed there were two. This to re-enforces my theory that the breaking of the ice was not only a judgment against his father's unbelief, but a means for redemption for the father and his son. The "homeless guy" left his fire in order to *be with Pavel* during the impossible accident. This multiplies the irony of the situation. If the breaking of the ice is a divine judgment, then it's a judgment that God also brings upon himself. One is tempted, therefore, to conclude that God must have failed in trying to save the boy from his own judgment. But that would forget the more important matter: the boy's soul.

From the beginning, the soul of the boy is being polluted by his father's humanistic naturalism. Milk is meant for nurishment of children, but the children in the movie are being forced to consume sour milk by the school authorities. Likewise, his father's naturalism is a spoiling of the nurishing use of knowledge which could make his son both wise and God-fearing. Pavel receives sour milk from his father; in contrast, he receives hardy meals from his aunt who is trying to provide spiritual nurshment for the boy's soul. Whose instruction will win over Pavel's soul? Pavel seems innocent from the beginning, healthily open to religious training and resistent to his father's naturalism. He is perceptive to the pointlessness of life apart from the soul, and recognizes the limitations of human strength and reason. At the same time, he does put great faith in his father's computer. Curiously, we never see Pavel's father bringing him to the priest like he promised. Doesn't this suggest that his father's confidence in his computer is trajected to become a dominating and oppressive force in his son's life?

After being shaken by the death of the poor homeless dog who must have starved and froze to death, Pavel is driven to conclude "perhaps he is better off now." So also, the break in the ice, represents both a divine judgment against his father's idolatry, but also a merciful tragedy for the redemption of souls. In the end, the father finally bows in the church, reaching into the bucket and breaking out a piece of ice which he brings to his forehead. In doing so, the father remembers his son, in sacramental fashion. For the first time in his life, he embraces life after death.