''Dekalog: Eight'' ( pl, Dekalog, osiem) is the eighth part of ''

Dekalog ''Dekalog'' (, also known as ''Dekalog: The Ten Commandments'' and ''The Decalogue'') is a 1988 Polish drama television miniseries directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski and co-written by Kieślowski with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, with music by Zbigniew P ...

'', the drama series of films directed by Polish director Krzysztof Kieślowski for

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, connected to the eighth imperative of the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ� ...

- "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor". A Holocaust survivor (

Teresa Marczewska Teresa Marczewska (born January 6, 1948 in Jarosław) is a Polish actress and the wife of the Polish film director Wojciech Marczewski. Selected filmography * '' Scratch'' (2008) * ''Who Never Lived'' (2006) * ''Quo vadis'' (2001) * '' Weiser ...

) confronts an ethics professor (Maria Kościałkowska) who once refused to help her on the basis of this commandment.

Plot

Warsaw, Poland, circa 1985. Zofia (Maria Koscialkowska) is an elderly but sporty university professor who is friends with stamp-collecting neighbour Czesław "Root" Janicki. Elżbieta (

), a woman in her forties, who is from

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

but speaks excellent Polish and is clearly of Polish descent, is visiting the

University of Warsaw The University of Warsaw ( pl, Uniwersytet Warszawski, la, Universitas Varsoviensis) is a public university in Warsaw, Poland. Established in 1816, it is the largest institution of higher learning in the country offering 37 different fields of ...

. She goes to Zofia's ethics lecture. Elżbieta and Zofia are professional acquaintances from the USA, Elżbieta having translated Zofia's works, and the latter is glad to introduce her to the students. Zofia's lecture consists of the students posing ethical problems to be discussed in class. One of the students poses the case of a doctor and a woman who needs to have an abortion, the very dilemma that is the subject of Dekalog: Two. Elżbieta then gives an example on a real-life tale set in 1943, during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

: a 6-year-old Jewish girl whose parents were sent to the

ghetto A ghetto, often called ''the'' ghetto, is a part of a city in which members of a minority group live, especially as a result of political, social, legal, environmental or economic pressure. Ghettos are often known for being more impoverished t ...

is promised to get help from some willing Catholic family, yet the woman from the family refuses to provide the help and sends the girl away just before curfew. Zofia figures out that Elżbieta herself was the small girl left to an uncertain fate, and that it was she, Zofia, who refused to help her. Her initial explanation that, being Catholics, they could not lie about Elżbieta's fake

baptism Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost inv ...

is not good enough. Zofia asks Elżbieta to dinner, but instead drives her to the house where the scene took place in 1943. Back at Zofia's apartment, she expresses her deep regret and explains the real reason she refused her help: Zofia's husband was an officer of the Polish resistance and there were reports (that later turned out to be false) that the foster family were working for the

Gestapo The (), abbreviated Gestapo (; ), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of Prussia into one organi ...

. This does not take away the fact that Zofia went along with abandoning 6-year-old Elżbieta to near-certain death. Janicki, the neighbour, enters and proudly shows Zofia his series of 1931 German stamps that he has recently acquired. Zofia has had difficulties, over the years, living with what she did and did not do during the war. Elżbieta asks to be taken to the family that had offered to help her, but when she gets there, the man, a tailor, refuses to speak about the war. Zofia tells her that he suffered a lot during and after the war and that is why he will not say anything. The story was based on an experience of the filmmakers' mutual friend, the journalist Hanna Krall.http://www.facets.org/decalogue/synopsis.html Episode synopsis

Cast

* Maria Koscialkowska - Zofia *

- Elżbieta * Artur Barciś - young man *

Tadeusz Łomnicki Tadeusz Łomnicki (; 18 July 1927 – 22 February 1992) was a Polish actor, one of the most notable stage and film artists of his time in Poland. He is remembered mostly for his roles in comedies and dramas, as well as for the role of Kordian in J ...

- tailor * Bronislaw Pawlik - philatelist, Zofia's neighbour Actors from other episodes playing different roles: * Marian Opania, Wojciech Asinski, Marek Kepinski, Janusz Mond, Krzysztof Rojek, Wiktor Sanejko, Ewa Skibinska, Hanna Szcerkowska, Anna Zagorska

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dekalog 08 1988 films Films directed by Krzysztof Kieślowski Films scored by Zbigniew Preisner 1980s Polish-language films Fiction set in 1985 Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Piesiewicz Films with screenplays by Krzysztof Kieślowski