Decalogue 8 - AHB

"Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor"

There are a couple really cool things that Kieslowski is doing in this episode. This show is right.

The image of the painting is really interesting, no matter how many times they straighten the frame the whole thing goes crooked. I see this as an analogy for the whole field of ethics and its relation to human life. Despite our efforts there will always be gray areas and things that exist outside our controlled world. What I like is that neither of the characters really got frustrated with the painting, they just set it straight and moved on. The image could also be seen as the writing of wrongs. Both the main characters are trying to exorcise these demons that they've been carrying around for decades, and in the end we see this really beautiful reconciliation.

The fact that the woman became an ethics professor is intriguing. I feel like this career choice is a way doing penance for the mistakes in her past. It was also suggested that she did a lot for the underground movement, but no matter what her actions could not absolve her from "February, 1943". Wounds like that can't go away unless some kind of forgiveness is exchanged. Both of these women found freedom in each other.

Finally, the way that Kieslowski uses the commandment is fantastic. The woman used "bearing false witness" as a way of escaping the right action that she needed to do. I think it is human nature to try and justify actions that we don't necessarily feel good about by appealing to some kind of other standard. Even the commandments become a crutch.