Appreciation : Kieslowski Pursued Peace in Times That Challenged His Soul

With the death of Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski, who suffered a fatal heart attack Wednesday at 54, the world lost one of its great poets of film. Best known for his final work, “Red,” “White” and “Blue”--a trilogy exploring the principles represented by the colors of the French flag (liberty, equality and fraternity)--Kieslowski positioned his films in the complex realm of human morality.

It’s not surprising that Kieslowski’s favorite philosopher was Immanuel Kant, an 18th century German who believed it was man’s duty to live morally, and who focused his writings on questions of ethics, aesthetics and the nature and limits of human knowledge; this is precisely the territory of Kieslowski’s films.

Couching complex philosophical questions in simple fables set among the European middle class, Kieslowski made his greatest mark with “The Decalogue,” a dauntingly ambitious 10-film cycle exploring the Ten Commandments and how they can be seen operating in the lives of various tenants of a Warsaw apartment complex. The respect and tenderness Kieslowski brought to his interpretation of the struggles and longings of the ordinary citizens who people these stories is profoundly moving, and it’s a great tragedy these films have been embroiled in a legal snafu that’s prevented their release in the United States. We need them here.

In a 1995 interview with The Times, Kieslowski observed that “film is often just business--I understand that and it’s not something I concern myself with. Moreover, film is a highly concrete art form and few authors of the cinema are brilliant enough to dissolve this concreteness.

“Nonetheless, if film aspires to be part of culture, it should do the things great literature, art and music do: elevate the spirit, help us understand ourselves and the life around us, and give people the feeling they are not alone,” added the director, who fueled himself with a steady stream of cigarettes and espresso during our meeting. “Loneliness is one of the central problems culture must address.”

Born in Warsaw in 1941, Kieslowski grew up amid the rubble of World War II, under Poland’s oppressive post-Stalinist regime. After an aborted career as a firefighter, he enrolled at the Lodz Film School, graduated in 1969 and devoted the next seven years to documentaries chronicling Polish life. Releasing his debut feature, “The Scar,” in 1976, he completed three more features before embarking on “The Decalogue” in 1984.

Kieslowski spent his 40s living under the martial law that came to Poland in 1981. It was by all accounts a grim time for that country, and Kieslowski recalled “the only way to cope with it was to sleep--I once slept for almost an entire year.” This soul-destroying experience did not, however, shake his belief in the essential benevolence of life.

“I think people are courageous and are basically good, and I draw this conclusion because I don’t meet bad people,” he said. “Yes, people behave selfishly, with cowardice and stupidity, but they do so because they find themselves in situations where they have no other option. They create traps for themselves and there’s no escape. People don’t want to be dishonest--life forces them into it.”

One of the enduring themes in Kieslowski’s work is the question of freedom, which he pointed out “is a trap as an abstract idea because it directs you towards solitude, and solitude and loneliness are hell. The acceptance of one’s own limits is a kind of freedom, because if we can accept ourselves as we really are, with all our faults, it helps us accept life with all its difficulties.”

“This kind of acceptance is very difficult to achieve, of course, and speaking for myself, the most I hope for in life is peace,” he added. “This is something we all experience in fleeting moments, but ultimately it’s not achievable. It wouldn’t be interesting to achieve it though, because it’s the pursuit of it that has meaning.”

As to whether there’s some power at work in the universe, aiding or obstructing our pursuit of peace, he said: “Something exists over there. Is that something benevolent, malevolent or indifferent? Let’s just say something’s been asleep for a long time, and maybe one day it will wake up.”

* DIRECTOR’S LIFE

The obituary of Krzysztof Kieslowski is in Section A.