The first in Kieslowski's "Dekalog" series tells the story of a father and his prodigy son. The film begins by showing the mysterious angelic figure (pictured below) watching over a lake/pond. As the camera creeps in closer, we see that he is crying. Cut to a sad woman (later we discover it is the boy's aunt) who views a TV screen through a department store window. A young boy appears to be running through a school hallway with all of his friends on screen. Only after these enigmatic scenes are we introduced to the father and the boy in the TV screen. We'll soon find out why everyone is so sad. The father is a computer scientist of sorts, and his son takes after him in the brains department. For example, the son programs a computer to lock the apartment door, run hot water in the bathroom, as well as other things, just from a few taps on his keyboard. Both his father and he believe that anything can be solved with either some mathematical framework or computational tools. Math and computers are their false idols. Unfortunately, that means they have to pay. This episode is so great (my 3rd favorite out of the entire series) because it is simple story-telling combined with very sympathetic characters. The boy, in particular, is an extremely fantastic actor. [spoilers] Kieslowski meticulously paints a picture of the inner thoughts, yearnings, and plans of this boy in a few strokes. When he destroys the canvas, it's all the more earth shattering for us.
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