A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING [1987]
year:
- 1987
release date:
- 11 III 1988
runtime:
- 84 min
directed by:
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
written by:
- Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Krzysztof Kieślowski
director of photography:
- Sławomir Idziak
cast:
- Mirosław Baka [Jacek Łazar], Krzysztof Globisz [Piotr Balicki, a lawyer], Jan Tesarz [Waldemar Rekowski, taxi driver], Zbigniew Zapasiewicz [chair of the lawyers’ board], Barbara Dziekan [a cashier at the cinema], Aleksander Bednarz [hangman], Jerzy Zass [prison director], Zdzisław Tobiasz [judge], Artur Barciś [a laborer], Krystyna Janda [Dorota], Olgierd Łukaszewicz [Andrzej], Leonard Andrzejewski [friend of a drunk man at the taxi-rank], Andrzej Mastalerz [Jacek’s brother]
edited by:
- Ewa Smal
music by:
- Zbigniew Preisner
production design:
- Halina Dobrowolska
produced by:
- Studio Filmowe „Tor”
executive producer:
- Ryszard Chutkowski
awards:
-
• IFF Cannes (France) 1988: the Jury Award, the FIPRESCI Award
• Polish Feature Film Festival Gdynia 1988: Grand Prix Golden Lions
• Head of the Cinematography Award for filmmaking 1988: for best director for Krzysztof Kieslowski, cinematography for Sławomir Idziak, best actor for Mirosław Baka
• European Film Award 1988
• Golden Duck 1989
• Arts Award of the Society of Friends of Art, Gdańsk 1989 for Miroslaw Baka
About the film
The theatrical version of the fifth episode of the Ten Commandments TV series. A-matter-of-fact, poignant film with the qualities of an ancient tragedy is a dramatic meditation on the moral, ethical, and social sense of capital punishment.
Warsaw, March 16, 1987. A typical residential estate. A taxi driver is meticulously cleaning his car. Unruly children hang a cat on a string and flee. The twenty-year-old Jacek is aimlessly wandering through the Old Town. Piotr, after the completion of his apprenticeship, passes his last bar exam. He is attracted to the social function of the judiciary. Jacek becomes a witness to a brutal assault, but he does not react. He reaches the Warsaw East-West Route and drops a stone onto a passing car. Andrzej and Dorota are anxiously waiting for a taxi. Annoyed by the pedantry of the taxi driver, who is still cleaning the car, they leave.
During his bar exam, Piotr states that no penalty has ever deterred people from committing crimes. Jacek comes to a photo shop to order a copy of a photo for his sister. Piotr, happy after passing the exam, invites Ola to the European Hotel. Jacek is also here, winding a thin rope around his hand under the table. Waldemar, the taxi driver, pulls into the parking lot at the hotel. Jacek gets into the taxi and tells the driver to go to Lower Mokotów. While on the outskirts of the city, where the road ends, he suddenly wraps the rope around the driver's neck and hits him on the head with a metal rod. He drags the body into the bushes near the Vistula. The man is still conscious and begs to be spared. Jacek then murders him with a large stone. He returns to the car and eats the driver’s sandwich. Later, he meets with Beatka from the vegetable shop. He invites her to the car.
Courtroom. The judge announces the verdict. Officers escort Jacek out. Piotr notices him and calls his name. He is very upset by the sentence – the death penalty.
Prison. The prison director allows Piotr to see the convict. Jacek asks Piotr to talk to his mother about burying his body next to his father's grave. The executioner arrives and checks the gallows. A guard urges Piotr to finish the conversation. Jacek mentions his sister who was tragically killed and asks Piotr to collect the prints from the photo shop and give them to his mother. They leave the cell. Jacek screams gutturally: Sir, I don’t want to! The director orders them to carry out the execution sentence. The executioner ties a blindfold across Jacek’s eyes. Devastated Piotr, shaken by what happened, is crying in a suburban forest.
Waldemar Piątek, Leksykon polskich filmów fabularnych, Warszawa 1996
