Kieslowski

We have spent all of Dekalog 7 concerned about Anya, for good reason. A six year old girl on the run with a young woman who doesn’t have a clear idea what she is doing is a perilous situation. But as Dekalog 7 comes to its conclusion, it’s

There are fewer chapters in episode 7 on the BluRay and I’m not sure why. The Criterion editors for, whatever reason, decided to have unusually long first and second chapters, so here we are in only the sixth segment and there are only about 10 minutes left in the

At this point, the episode seems to be spiraling towards a dreadful conclusion. It again begins with Anya having a night terror. Majga tries to wake her calmly, but eventually gives in to her mother’s method and shakes her awake. Majka explains to Wojtek that she has these screaming

In a recent essay I wrote about the singer songwriter Adrianne Lenker, I went on at some length about her early career masterpiece “Mythological Beauty,” a stunning song she wrote about her mother that is appreciative, understanding and shockingly mature, given that it details some of Adrianne’s childhood trauma

In the last segment, I mentioned how this episode could use some American style melodrama. But I’ve had second thoughts about that conclusion. There’s actually quite a bit of drama in this episode, and in these scenes featuring Majka and Wojtek. The challenge is reading Eastern European faces.

Dekalog 7 has a very interesting premise. It’s an unusual twist on child abduction stories. It is extremely well cast — right down to the little girl looking very much like young man cast as her father. And yet — the episode doesn’t live up to its potential. Kieslowski is