Blind Chance

Over the past few years, Polish director, Krysztof Kieslowski, has quickly become one of my favorite directors of all time. I have finally had the opportunity to venture into his pre-Decalogue films. Blind Chance, completed in 1982, was not released until 1987, due to its generally negative portrayal of communism. This tells the story of a man who is running for a train and explores how his life would turn out differently depending on whether or not he made it to the train on time. Stories like this have become more commonplace in recent years (Sliding Doors and Run, Lola Run among others). This is different because you're not hoping for a particular outcome and wondering how it will acheive that outcome, in this case, you have no idea where these choices will lead him. All three options are radically different and lead him to making some very different choices. That is what the film is about, the choices we make. Kieslowski does not shy away from exploring the spiritual and philosophic ramifications of the choices and how he may end up with a new spiritual understanding based on his previous decisions. In each case, he ends up in a promiscuous relationship with a different woman that usually leads to negative consequences. It's a profoundly moral film, as all of Kieslowski's films are, and I feel in order to truly do this justice, I would need to see this one a few more times. He also explores some of his favorite themes of how lives are interconnected often in ways that we are unaware of. It's not as refined as his later films, and to a certain degree, suffers from that. After this, I look forward to exploring more of his early works.