A Short Film About Killing - 7

Here, Krzysztof Kieslowski and his longtime collaborator Krzysztof Piesiewicz expand on episode V of their Decalogue series and parallel a brutal killing of a taxi driver by a young nomad with the young man's execution by the state. The plot also includes a new lawyer who loses the case and starts to realize the emotion and pressure of the carrying out of law- as oppose to how it is taught abstractly. The film uses very little dialogue but great cinematography to get the emotion of the characters and deep and dark place in the human condition. The film does not hit you over the head with a morality, but rather tells a very human story of "hurting people, hurting people." The film also makes the public personal by showing how the state attempts to enforce blind justice but it takes a lot out of the individuals involved. While this film can be intense at times, including a 15 minute brutal murder scene and an execution, it is also a story that vividly shows, rather than tells, the truth.