Language:
English
Year of publication:
1999
Titel der Quelle:
European Legacy
Angaben zur Quelle:
4,4 (1999) 58-76
Keywords:
Kieślowski, Krzysztof,
;
Dekalog (Television program)
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945), in motion pictures
;
Motion pictures
;
Jews in motion pictures
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
Abstract:
Analyzes the eighth film in the "Dekalog" series by the Polish film director, which tells the story of two women: Zofia, a Polish woman and a professor of ethics at Warsaw University, and Elżbieta, a Holocaust survivor and Holocaust researcher who came to Poland from the USA to engage in research. But the two women had met in Warsaw before, in 1943, when Elżbieta was a child and Zofia and her husband were asked to become her godparents for a baptism which could save her life. They refused on the grounds that it would require them to disobey the commandment "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor". Elżbieta was then helped by another couple. This story is brought by Elżbieta to the ethics class of Zofia and is discussed by the students. The film deals with the delicate relationship between the two women, the moral implications of Zofia's refusal, and their reconciliation. Concludes that the film deals with forgiveness and reconciliation as an individual experience and cannot be interpreted as a film dealing with Polish-Jewish relations in the 20th century.
DOI:
10.1080/10848779908579981
URL:
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