Jesus

Christensen C.S. About the deep meaning of “Dekalog” by Polish film director Krzysztof Kieślowski

“Dekalog” also known as “Dekalog: the Ten Commandments” of the film director Krzysztof Kieślowski was released on Polish television in 1989-1990. The script of this drama series of ten films was written by Krzysztof Kieślowski himself and his co-writer Krzysztof Piesiewicz. The heroes of the serial live in 1980s Warsaw. Each film explores characters facing one or several moral and ethical dilemmas. “Dekalog” is considered one of the best dramatic works ever done for television. This article analyses the deeper meaning of this movie drama. What are the main themes of the ten movies cycle: politic, moral, love, freedom, criticism of Polish society, or maybe another special subject of the director’s thoughts? The analysis of “Dekalog” is carried out in comparison with other works of the director and considering the beginning collapse of the communist system in the late 1980s which influenced on his creative activity.

Christensen C.S. Christian and biblical symbols in modern movies exemplified by “Babette’s Feast” (1987), “The Return” (2003) and “The Island” (2006)

The article deals with Christian and biblical symbols and values in modern movies. In the last decades, a wave of new movies with Christian and biblical symbols has washed over the international film industry. That despites of the very fact that state religions in as well West, as East Europe is under pressure by modern society, its values and changing culture. Nevertheless, Christian symbols, values and moral teachings are far from forgotten. On the contrary, biblical themes, which in the recent decades have been clarified and ridiculed by as well experts as of non-professionals, now play a very important role in the construction of the structure of modern movies. The theological-aesthetical analysis of the three movies: “Babette’s Feast” by the Danish film director Gabriel Axel, “The Return” by Andrey Zvyagintsev, “The Island” by Pavel Lungin, will not only show the reader different aspects of the importance of Christian and biblical symbols and values in modern movies, but also demonstrates the difference between Protestantism, Catholicism and the Eastern Orthodox Church.