“I am the Lord thy God; thou shalt have no other gods before me;” this is the unspoken implication of the critically acclaimed Decalogue I by Krzysztof Kieślowski, a brilliant exposition of the first of the Ten Commandments. The protagonist is a loving father, a highly-educated professor, and an unwavering naturalist; one who believes that everything in the universe is governed by natural law, a form of determinism in which everything that ever happens is the result of a preceding cause in a long chain of cause-and-effects, leaving no room for God. Besides professing his philosophies at the university, he loves spending time with his son, cunningly raising him as one of his students despite his young age. The story begins when the child encounters a dead dog on his way home. “What is death?” the child questions. The father’s response is as cold as it is unforgiving: “one’s vital organs cease to function as the heart stops pumping blood.” Perhaps the most lucid allegory of deterministic naturalism in the entire movie, the father’s explanation paves the way for the incredible finale, bringing to light its fallacy. I won’t spoil the ending – you should watch it yourself – but take note as to how natural determinism, arguably the leading philosophical framework in the Western world, directly conflicts with the first order decreed by God (i.e. setting natural law above God). This movie sets the foundation for a discussion on free will and determinism in modern psychology and Islam.
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