A Short Film About Killing - Dekalog: Five (1988)

01/18/21 • 70 min

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uYdtpAoLjo8

This film makes us confront on a visceral level the horror of taking a human life, even the life of someone we might find despicable. It is the fifth installment of Dekalog, the famous Polish TV series inspired by the Ten Commandments.

Dekalog: Five, which was expanded into the feature-length A Short Film About Killing, coincided with an intense debate over capital punishment in Poland, and in the year of its release (1988) the nation finally suspended use of the death penalty.

Catholic film scholar Maria Elena de las Carreras often uses Dekalog: Five to teach her students at Cal State Northridge about the value of life. She brings a lively energy to the discussion along with a deep knowledge of Polish cinema and, in general, the work of filmmakers living in totalitarian regimes.

Thomas tracked Maria Elena down because of an article on Kieslowski she wrote for Crisis magazine twenty years ago—which, she tells us, she sent to Pope John Paul II, and received a letter from his secretary saying it had been read “with great interest”.

Next in our discussion of the Vatican film list: William Wyler’s epic Ben-Hur (1959), starring Charlton Heston.

Links

Watch A Short Film About Killing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqmukHCGUQ

Maria Elena de las Carreras article on Kieslowski https://www.crisismagazine.com/2000/filming-the-10-commandments-kieslowski-as-a-catholic-director

Her writings on film at Crisis Magazine https://www.crisismagazine.com/author/kuntz

More writings https://csun.academia.edu/MariaElenadelasCarreras

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Join the Facebook group to discuss these films with us! http://www.facebook.com/CatholicPods

Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/uYdtpAoLjo8

Next in our discussion of the Vatican film list: William Wyler’s epic Ben-Hur (1959), starring Charlton Heston.

Links

Watch A Short Film About Killing https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKqmukHCGUQ

Maria Elena de las Carreras article on Kieslowski https://www.crisismagazine.com/2000/filming-the-10-commandments-kieslowski-as-a-catholic-director

Her writings on film at Crisis Magazine https://www.crisismagazine.com/author/kuntz

More writings https://csun.academia.edu/MariaElenadelasCarreras

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Join the Facebook group to discuss these films with us! http://www.facebook.com/CatholicPods

Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

Previous Episode

Mel Gibson's Santa dispenses justice in Fatman (review)

Mel Gibson playing Santa fending off an assassin sent by a spoiled brat who got coal for Christmas is a premise as absurd as it is entertaining. Fatman, the latest in a series of thematically similar roles for Gibson, delivers on both the entertainment and the absurdity while also taking itself more seriously than we might expect.

We live in what has been described as a "therapeutic culture" in which all evil is psychologized away in terms of childhood trauma. In Gibson's countercultural Chris Cringle we have a father figure who understands and compassionates the childhood wounds of his adversaries, yet insists that wicked deeds require retribution both for justice's and for the evildoer's own sake.

Watch this discussion on YouTube: https://youtu.be/CEBbIUBD-hs

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Join our Facebook group if you wish to discuss these films with us! http://www.facebook.com/groups/CatholicPods

Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/

Next Episode

Literalism vs. Reality in The Mandalorian

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/-R68p8Lkxgw

We enjoy The Mandalorian more than any other recent Star Wars productions. But its second season sometimes doesn’t trust us to suspend our disbelief in certain respects (a misguided literalism in its use of CGI for a major human character), while elsewhere expecting us to accept, on ideological grounds, things that are unbelievable even in its fantasy setting (a disproportionate number of tiny women somehow able to throw around men much bigger than they). This prompts a discussion of the difference between the suspension of disbelief and unreality in a fantasy setting.

After discussing Star Wars (the recent films and the dangers of indiscriminate “fandom”) and things we appreciate about The Mandalorian’s production (its soundtrack, its use of virtual sets), our discussion of Season 2 begins about 17 minutes in.

Links

The Marvel Symphonic Universe https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vfqkvwW2fs

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/heat-vision/thor-ragnarok-composer-acknowledges-marvel-scores-sound-same-1054503

Rear Projection: How It Works https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwe4Fan41Is

The Virtual Production of The Mandalorian, Season One https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUnxzVOs3rk

Alexi Sargent, “The Undeath of Cinema” https://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/the-undeath-of-cinema

This podcast is a production of CatholicCulture.org. If you like the show, please consider supporting us! http://catholicculture.org/donate/audio

Music is The Duskwhales, “Take It Back”, used with permission. https://theduskwhales.bandcamp.com/