'Dekalog' is a towering achievement and a televisual masterpiece that puts many feature films to shame, also pulling off a concept of great ambition brilliantly. Although a big admirer of Krzysztof Kieślowski (a gifted director taken from us too early), and who has yet to be disappointed by him, to me 'Dekalog' and 'Three Colours: Red' sees him at his best.All of 'Dekalog's' episodes have so many great things, and it is an example of none of the lesser episodes (the weakest being the still very good Episode 8) being bad. This is testament to the high quality of 'Dekalog' as an overall whole and how brilliant the best episodes are. Episode 10 is a magnificent conclusion, it's very different in tone and somewhat of the odd one out in that sense but executes it brilliantly, the slight lack of finality being its only draw-back (but that is so minor it's a non-issue).Every single one of 'Dekalog's' episodes are exceptionally well made. The production values in Episode 10 are as ever atmosphere-enhancing, beautiful and haunting to look at and fascinating. Many of the images are impossible to forget. The direction is quietly unobtrusive, intelligently paced and never too heavy, and the music is suitably intricate.The themes and ideals are used to full potential, and the characters and their relationships and conflicts feel so real and emotionally resonant without being heavy-handed. Despite being based around one of the ten commandments, don't let that put you off, resemblance to religion is relatively scant.Story-wise, Episode 10 is the most comedic (in the dark and sharply satirical sense) and light-hearted, perhaps for some the most accessible. This is something that may feel too different to some, to me the different tone was appreciated because even if the previous nine episodes were thematically richer somewhat and more emotionally powerful Episode 10 is brilliantly entertaining and actually if anybody considers it their favourite it's easy to see why. Even for comedy, the acting still manages to be complex and nuanced while also clearly having fun.Overall, magnificent conclusion. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Set together, these ten experiments and the two extensions, are must viewing. There's a scope and variety, a rhythm that is almost transcendental. If you like Tarkovsky and Wong, you have to see this transitional event.But taken individually, they are pretty uneven. This is not a good one. Sure, it has lots of the values non-cinematic viewers associate with Kieslowski, but which really come from his partner: story knots and drama.But (as these were shot in order), the man was simply worn out by now. In particular, it has stamps (series of stamps), locks, bodily sacrifice, non-human beings, brotherly containment. All these in another Kieslowski project would be elaborated visually.But not here.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.

This is my favorite episode of the Decalogue because I have dealt with a lot of death in the family and can really relate to two brothers and their relationship with the materials left behind by someone they loved. This is a very touching and personal story that follows the death of the neighbor from Decalogue 8, the stamp collector. His two sons, one a metal rocker and the other a family man, are left with a collection of stamps so valuable they don't know what to do with it, nor even really what it's worth. As they begin to find out, it becomes worth more to them personally than it does valuably, and they find themselves obsessing over the past of a man they didn't much respect before.In terms of the thematic connotations of the Decalogue, it's one of the few stories that fit so easily into the rule: "Thou shalt not covet they neighbors goods." Once thrown into an almost underground world of something seemingly innocuous as stamp collecting, the brothers learn just how jealously they can guard something so small and fragmentary, and to what lengths they will go to for completion.But at the heart of the story is two brothers trying subconsciously to hold on to the last vestiges of a father they never really knew, and it's only with the heart-rending tragedy of the ending that they look past what he had to what it all means to them. True to most of Kieslowski's Decalogue, the fifty seemingly slow minutes are packed with levels of narration and symbolic intention that creates a fantastically effective parable on loss and redemption.--PolarisDiB

I have seen all the Decalog many years ago but I remember it with emotion. All the pieces of this chef d'oeuvre are extraordinary and my favorite movies. But I like this one for the laughter that concluded it...