Decalogue VII

Majka is twenty two and has a six year old daughter called Ania. Ania thinks Majka is her sister; the mother she knows is Ewa, Majka's own mother. Years ago, when Majka was at school, she became pregnant, and to cover it the family registered the child as Ewa's. Majka cannot bear it any longer. One day she takes Ania from the nursery and runs. Abducting your own child is not legally possible either. Krzysztof Kieślowski directs, from a screenplay written with Krzysztof Piesiewicz. This is the seventh film in the ten part Dekalog series Kieślowski made for Polish television; each part corresponds to one of the commandments, and this one to the commandment about stealing. The question is who belongs to whom. Ewa actually raised the child and loves her; Majka gave birth and had her taken away; Ania knows nothing. The narrative gives all three their case and saves none of them. Every part of the series takes place on the same housing estate in Warsaw, and the characters appear briefly in each other's films. It runs about fifty five minutes. Kieślowski made the series in the period after martial law in Poland, and none of the films speaks about politics directly; the matter is the personal weight of moral decisions. Who it is for: viewers who like Kieślowski and films built on moral dilemma. Who it is not for: the pace is slow, the narrative is closed, and the ending offers no resolution.