The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 242

DUDDD Kieslowski 'Decalogue' series dramatizes lessons of the Ten Commandments BYJUDYSTONE "V- i A i I lv- TV ...1, 1 Krzysztof Kieslowski: 'I do not want to influence what people do' Each of bis 10 one-hour programs will be featured during the San Francisco International Film Festival at 6 p.m. nightly, Tuesday through May 10. His feature-length variation on the sixth episode, "A Short Film About Love," will be one of four films opening the festival tomorrow at the KabukL The feature-length adaptation of the fifth, "A Short Film About Killing," 7:45 p.m. May 10, is a harrowing look at an individual's act of murder and state-imposed capital punishment "I do not want to influence what people think or do, because I dont know the answers," Kieslowski emphasized. "We are not the 'engineers of human souls' and to pretend we have an influence would be ridiculous.

The most human thing is to doubt" The ambiguities in the human condition are reflected in all the relationships he delineates with a great artist's spare, somber, subtle insights: A young voyeur's love for a wearily sophisticated neighbor. The dilemma of a wife who loves her dying husband but is pregnant with another's child. The loneliness of a discarded mistress. The passion of a daughter for the man who may or may not be her real father. A professor of ethics forced to face the decisions she made during the Holocaust A little girl torn between her mother and grandmother.

An impotent husband trying to believe in his wife's fidelity. Two brothers betraying each other over their dead father's valuable stamp collections. The series originated with his co-writer, Krzysztof Piesiewicz, a prominent attorney who prosecuted four state security police convicted of murdering Father Jerzy Popieluszko in 1985. Neither of them had a traditional Catholic education. They were not moved, Kieslowski insists, by religious feelings but by a recognition that the Ten Commandments are violated every day.

What gave Piesiewicz the idea for the "Probably the times we were living in," Kieslowski replied with typical brevity. After imposition of martial law in 1981, many film makers went abroad. Those who remained boycotted the rigidly controlled state, television. Meanwhile, Kieslowski and Piesiewicz collaborated on the film script for "No End" (1984), in- elements typically Polish. I understood some time ago that nobody in the West thinks or cares about Poland.

On the other hand, it's quite impossible to explain Poland to the West If you touch the broad basic subjects of love or death, there's a common language which you don't have if you discuss Communism." From a philosophical view, it CHtOWCUSTAff WRITE CJTRZYSZTOF KIESLOWSKI finds film making a "very boring" occupation. If he could do something else, he would. Despite that dim view, the Polish director shot. 12 programs in 14 months dealing with the most paradoxical moral problems we face. His "Decalogue," provocative contemporary dramas inspired by the Ten Commandments, made him the awed talk of international film festivals last year.

This laconic, deeply pessimistic man seemed remarkably underwhelmed by the heap of critical praise when he was interviewed at the Montreal Film Festival in September. He has seen too much of history and the ephemeral nature of fame to be impressed by accolades, although occasionally he responds with a fleeting, sardonic smile that lightens the intensity of his gaze. The ethical questions he raises were not designed to be cinematic equivalents of the commandments that God gave to Moses. "It's just a look at how difficult it is to live," Kieslowski said. COMPLETE LINEUP FOR THE All films are shown at the Kabuki Theater, and all times are in the p.m.

unless otherwise noted. PFA is the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley. For ticket information call 762-2277. was uiusi uuiiiuu iu gei a uiaXXidL- ic handle on the First Commandment am the Lord thy God. Thou shalt have no other God be- SeePaget? SAN FRANCISCO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL terwoven dramas reflecting on love, morality and legal tactics when a cynical old lawyer takes over the defense of a worker accused of having participated in an illegal When TV officials began wooing back the film makers, they agreed to give them the freedom the directors demanded.

Kieslows-ki's proposal for the "Decalogue" was approved. 1 "There's not even the shadow of politics in these films," Kieslowski noted, speaking through an interpreter, but occasionally responding in English. "There are no 'Birth Recollections of the Yellow House Dancing in the Dust The Killer 10 10:15 11 SKZjSibAi, MAYS; Closely Watched Trains Noon The Owl's Legacy: Parts 1-3 1:15 -larks on a String 2 Water, Wind, Sand 2:15 Thousand Pieces of Gold 3 New Greenaway Videos: A TV Dante 3:30 Asthenic Syndrome (PFA) 3:30 Dcwcng in rise Dust 4:15 Angry Earth I MONDAY, APBlt 30 Fimon 7:30 Thousand Picmo Gold 7:30 A Short Film About lovo 7:43 Surprise Film 745 TUESDAY, MAY THURSDAY, MAY 3 A Constant State of Departure; Coffee Colored Children; Tongues Untied 11:30 a.m.. Closely Watched Trains Noon Secret Wedding 1 The Documentator 2 Chronicle of a Summer 2 A Cty of Sadness 20 Full Moon in New York 3:45 Through the Wire 4:30 The Owl's legacy: Parts 44 (PFA) 5:30 Decalogue 3 6 Last Images of the Shipwreck 7 A City of Sadness 7:15 White lies 7:30 Water, Wind, Sand (PFA) 700 The Documentator 1 7:45 FinianfWt; 9 -t A Tale of the Wind 10 New Films by Haas ondHenog 10:15 1 Monk Denial; Against the Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit 5.45 DecalogueS 6 Siddeshwari 630 Knockout (PFA) 7 Freedom Is Paradise 7:45 White lies 7:45 Siddeshwari 9 Recollections of the Yellow Housed 9:30 Begotten 10:15 Freedom Paradise 10:30 Barroco 10:45 Marquis 11 I MAY 6 'g; i Our Hospitality 12:30 Who Will Cost the First Stone 1 The Re-Enactment 1:30 The Owl's Legacy: Parts 4-6 2:30 My XXth Century 2:45 A City of Sadness (PFA) 3 Freedom Is Paradise 3:30 Siddeshwari 4 Stalin With Us 4:45 Decalogue 6 6 Icicle Thief 615 Begotten 6:30 Birth 6:45 4 ii I Chirta, My Sorrow' A Tale of the Wind 1,30 Pictures of the Old World 2 Bil Jersey: A Time for Burning 2:15 Recollections of the Yellow House 3 The Re Enactment 4 love. Women and Flowers 4: 1 5 Stalin fs With Us (PFA) 5:30 Decalogue 2 6 Pictures of the Old World 6:45 Through the Wire 7 Secret Wedding 7:30 The Documentotor (-A) 7:30 The Re-Enactment- 9 A Tale of the Wind 9:30 love, Women and Flowers 9:45 -Fuji Moon In iew York ......10 Things I Know About Hot 1 Tht Secret of tho Secret Weapon 1.30 Bil Jersey: Incident on Wilson Street 2 Water, Wind, Sand 3:30 JirfMemel: My Sweet little Village 4 How to Be Louise 4:15 China, My Sorrow 4:30 The Owl's Legacy: Parts 1-3 (PFA) 5:30 Decalogue I 6 Fiman 6M China, My Sorrow 7:15 The End of Old Times 7:30 A Tale of the Wind (PFA) 7:30 Recollections of the Yellow House 9:30 Pictures of the Old Worlds 9:40 Water, Wind, Sand 9:40 The Secret of the Secret Weapon 9:50" Things I Know About Her WEDNESDAY, MAY 2 Beyond Pale Fiman Scandal 11 Nooa .113 Current; Building Bombs Muriel Letter From Siberia The Philosopher Asthenic Syndrome Jiri Mentel Retrospective: last Images of the Shipwreck Decalogue 4 Asthenic Syndrome The Philosopher SiddeshwarilW; Knockout Secret Weddmg (PFA) 11.30 a.m.

12:15 2, Si, .2 JO 3" 3:15 4:45 6 7- 7tM 7:15 7Jf 9.30' New Films by Nelson and Sonbert 7:30 Asthenic Syndrome 7:45 Twin Peaks 845 Circus Boys (PFA) 8 45 A TV Dante 9 30 laSaUodebain 9,43 'v -'f4f r-i-'" se Ik. ie i-o in.