I think one has to have some sense of history about both east European communism and film to have an appreciation for this film. This theme, of alternate Universes remains popular and tried today in films like Butterfly Effect and others.
Nasim Taleb wrote a book called Fooled by Randomness that deals with this subject as well. We are, to some large degree, the product of our environments and those environments throw us curves and choices everyday that affect our lives.
Krzysztof Kieslowski (KK) gives us a glimpse into how easy these Universes split in just the details surrounding the catching of a train, which is a common experience for most Europeans.
Consider yourself, in your own life how some little detail made all the difference. Who you sat next to in a class and how they became your spouse or best friend, the close call car wreck that could have ended it all for you. Nassim Taleb calls those events when they happen a 'black swan'.
Black swans can be good or bad wrote Nassim to me once but I prefer to think of black swans as rare and tragic events, gray swans as near misses and white swans of something fortunate.
Witek encountered all of those swans, as do we. He continued to keep true to himself (as he lived out each reality) and in the end the same black swan awaited his fate regardless of what happened in between. The flight to Paris was always in the cards for him.
Nasim Taleb wrote a book called Fooled by Randomness that deals with this subject as well. We are, to some large degree, the product of our environments and those environments throw us curves and choices everyday that affect our lives.
Krzysztof Kieslowski (KK) gives us a glimpse into how easy these Universes split in just the details surrounding the catching of a train, which is a common experience for most Europeans.
Consider yourself, in your own life how some little detail made all the difference. Who you sat next to in a class and how they became your spouse or best friend, the close call car wreck that could have ended it all for you. Nassim Taleb calls those events when they happen a 'black swan'.
Black swans can be good or bad wrote Nassim to me once but I prefer to think of black swans as rare and tragic events, gray swans as near misses and white swans of something fortunate.
Witek encountered all of those swans, as do we. He continued to keep true to himself (as he lived out each reality) and in the end the same black swan awaited his fate regardless of what happened in between. The flight to Paris was always in the cards for him.