Im reeling with the delight and the unexpected impact of discovering a rare artist of immense depth and humanity -- Krzysztof Kieslowski, the Polish movie director who gave the world his famous Three Colors Trilogy (Blue, White, Red) and the 10-film series Decalogue, among many others. A chain smoker and a hopeless workaholic, Kieslowski (pronounced kisch-loaf-ski) died of a massive heart attack at the young age of 54 in 1994 not before, however, he showed us what a transformative, moving and humanizing experience watching movies can be. Coming from the same film school in Lodz that also gave the world other exceptionally talented Polish directors like Andrzej Wajda and Roman Polanski, Kieslowski recaptures the essence of being a human by consciously keeping away from politics and focusing on the problematic nature of high-flying ideals like liberty, equality, fraternity or the 10 Commandments the topics of some of his best known movies and TV series. Rather than approaching these issues from a didactic point of view like he did in all his earlier films when he was shooting a lot of short documentaries, Kieslowski instead takes us down the steps from the level of every day reality to the depths of the human soul, one fine detail at a time. Watching Kieslowskis Trilogy was for me an experience similar to watching that other great trilogy, LAventure, LEclisse and La Notte by Michelangelo Antonioni. But with Antonioni the style and the form is elevated to such a level of meta language that one is dwarfed by the sheer weight of the visual architecture of his work. Style is also very apparent with Kieslowski. You can see it, feel it, almost taste it in every beautiful frame. Yet Kieslowski does something more than that. He somehow, helped with the considerable artistry of his sound editor and composer, releases us into our own human predicament, into our own inner spiritual landscape, after initially capturing us with his stylistic bravado. This is the sort of movie making which makes one realize that there is life after all the car-chasing car-exploding bed-hopping f-word-rattling pyrotechnic extravaganza that more often than not passes for a blockbuster these days in Hollywood. Watch the Trilogy in the following order: Blue, White and then Red. The fact that all these three award-winning films were written, produced, directed, edited and released in only 12 months explains the ferocious energy and dedication with which Kieslowski tackled this project. In the very last scene of Red, youll realize that not only there is hope for Hollywood and film-making in general, but there is hope and salvation for each and every one of us as well. Politics continues to divide and kill us while art continues to revive our smashed hearts and heal our wounds. Kieslowskis blinding searchlight continues to reveal the greatness of the human soul even long after his untimely death. ----------------------------------------------------- |
