Decalogue, eight

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Movie
German title Decalogue, eight
Original title Decalogue, osiem
Country of production Poland
original language Polish
Publishing year 1988
length 55 minutes
Rod
Director Krzysztof Kieślowski
script Krzysztof Kieślowski,
Krzysztof Piesiewicz
production Ryszard Chutkowski
music Zbigniew Preisner
camera Andrzej Jaroszewicz
cut Ewa Smal
occupation
chronology

←  Predecessor
Decalogue, Seven

Successor  →
Decalogue, Nine

Dekalog, Acht is a Polish television film from 1988. As the eighth part of the Dekalog film series by director Krzysztof Kieślowski , the film deals with the eighth commandment. You should not give false testimony against your neighbor .

content

Two women, an older professor of ethics at a Polish university, and a younger Jew from the USA meet at the university. The latter comes for an academic visit because she has translated many of the professor's texts and is attending her classes. At the beginning of the lesson, a student present tells the story of the doctor and the pregnant woman, who is the subject of the second part of the Decalogue series.

The professor does not yet know who the Jewish translator really is. But when she tells a story in class, the professor realizes that this is the story of the Jew and that she is the six-year-old girl she was supposed to help hide from the Nazis during World War II. However, she sent the child away, allegedly for religious reasons ( you should not give false testimony) . The moral entanglement of the situation in World War II is discussed among the students of the course.

The two women drive together to the place where they met in 1943, and a debate ensues. It says in the room that the professor approved the girl's death at the time. The professor describes how the situation came about and regrets the situation very much, because - as the professor puts it - "nothing is more important than the life of a child". The two characters of the plot slowly approach each other and meet with a direct reference to the current reality of life of the two people.

Another visit by the Jewish woman to a man who, after the professor, was supposed to save her life, is blocked by the latter. He doesn't want to talk about the situation and refuses to accept the young woman's thanks.

criticism

"A multilayered ethical discourse about truth and lies at the border of theory and practice, which confronts connections that are too complicated to be able to classify the behavior of people in a specific situation as wrong or right."

- film service

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