The Seer

I am continuing through The Decalogue and in doing so I think it is fair to say that Kieslowski is revealing more to me than I signed up for.

Each of the 10 episodes has its own two or three central characters.  Sometimes these characters pop up briefly in other episodes.  These appearances are sometimes pivotal to the story and other times they are not.  Contrary to what I'd expect, the appearances that are not pivotal are most haunting to me.  Because I know from other episodes what has happened to a character, when that past character simply gets on an elevator during the current story and then gets off, I have an intimate sense of the weight that character is carrying around.

The reality of the central apartment complex in The Decalogue is that all of the various characters cross paths without ever knowing each other's suffering going on behind closed doors.  The reality of that world and the reality of my world are overlapping in ways that make me squirm. 

I live on a pleasant street in a pleasant house.  Down the street is an unpleasant family.  There are two little kids in this family and two parents.  Grandma owns the house but doesn't live there.  So her son and daughter-in-law live there rent free with their kids.  The kids raise themselves.  Mom and Dad never really come out.  In two years they've never looked at me or said, "hi," even though their two kids play on my porch all of the time.  It is rumored that a lot of drugs are used in the house and, to be honest, it would be a shock if the rumors weren't true.  It is also rumored that the father married the mother when he was 25 and she was 15.  The implications that may have for his daughter is something the whole neighborhood wonders about.  It is also rumored that this grandma (who may be the true villain of this situation) works at Child Protective Services and has intercepted past calls concerning her grandchildren.  I could go on about how the kids are never bathed or that many times we've seen them on the sidewalk well after dark and they still haven't eaten.  But listing all of the details would make for a really long post.

I may never have thought twice about how life on my little block overlaps with Kieslowski's apartment complex but for the most mysterious character in the series, the only one to appear in almost every episode.  He appears in different guises, but he never says anything.  For him the rules of time and space do not apply.  Much debate has happened around this character.  Is he God?  Is he a conscience?  Is he the physical manifestation of their emotional core?  For me, he is the only character who can see past the surface and into the suffering of everybody else's life.  I believe this "Seer" character is me because he and I (the audience) are the only ones seeing omnisciently what goes on in the lives on screen.

But when the episodes end, the Seer is gone.  And I'm left with my life the way it was before I pressed "play" on my remote control.  I'm again one of those other characters who can not see into the secret lives surrounding him.

So I try playing with the kids down the street.  We go on walks, my wife gives them snacks.  I want to fucking rise above this body and mind and see if anything I do is making a difference for these kids because it really doesn't feel like it.  I envy this Seer character because he can see and I can not.  But I'll be honest, in the same token I don't want to be the Seer in my neighborhood because it makes my life so much easier to never know what goes on in that house down the street.

Man.  I can think of no clean way to end this post.

Comments

[Captainwow]

Sure don't blame you for not wanting to be the Seer. But you do see, and you do make a difference, just by being there. And at some point who knows what conversations you may be able to have with these kids - that their parents will not have with them - that need to happen. The way you live your life at least lets them see there are people out there who care.

[katherine]

. . . i can't for the life of me remember how I found your blog . . but I'm glad I did . . . perhaps Captain wow of above comment :) ???. . . there is an ongoing move towards honesty that feels uplifting to read . . . and the Decalogue is now on my list of must see movies . . . :)