A Polish mini-series, the Decalogue is 10 1-hour films, each dealing with one (or more) of the 10 Commandments. Far from cautionary tales, each film's association with a commandment is often loose and sometimes cryptic. The films explore the murky complexity of ethics in the modern world where "the right thing to do" becomes a slippery, sometimes contradictory, term. The point is not to answer questions, but rather to raise them.
It's been said that all the events of "Magnolia" take place within a square mile (10 blocks). All the main characters of all the films of the Decalogue live in the same apartment complex. Sometimes they cross paths. One character appears in almost all of them but his presence is never explained.
Kubrick felt The Decalogue was the only masterpiece made within his lifetime. Although it didn't affect me quite as much as that, there's no doubt it's expertly crafted. Ambiguity abounds, every minute is a subtle clue to something else, endings are usually not resolutions, most everything is subject to interpretation.
7-9/10.
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