Scott Springmann - Decalogue 1

This was brilliant! In this short film we see an allegorical story played out that is designed to explain the first commandment: “I AM the LORD your God, thou shalt not have any other gods before me.” In the story we see a father who does not believe in God, raising his son, who has started to ask questions about death and God. Tells his son that there is no God, but does allow for his sister to teach him about Catholic doctrine. The father, a computer programmer, begins putting his faith into computers and believes that they can achieve a level of perfection. He has a computer at home that he programmed and he works extensively on it. This computer is his god, a graven image that he made for himself and worship. At one point the computer produces the phrase “I AM READY.” I AM is what God calls himself when he reveals himself in the burning bush. One day the son asks his father if it is ok to skate on the ice outside, the father makes calculations on the computer to see how thick the ice is. He figures out that it is safe for someone five times his son’s size to go out on the ice, so he lets his son go ice skate. Later that day he can’t find his son and eventually realizes that his son fell through the ice and died. The films ends with us seeing the father as he cries before the god that failed him. This film made a compelling story based up the first commandment and is truly a great film.