Krótki film o zabijaniu

I just finished watching "Krótki film o zabijaniu," a film by Krzysztof Kieślowski. It was an extension and alteration of one of the episodes of his television series, "Dekalog." The main characters are a young lawyer who. during the film, passes his examinations to become a lawyer, a young man who alternates between showing great sensitivity and brutality and a cabdriver who treats other people with contempt. In this short film we are able to learn a lot about the personalities of these characters. The lawyer seems to be an idealist who wants to make a difference in the world. He argues against the death penalty. The young man mentioned above kills the cabdriver. In one scene he takes to be enlarged a photograph of a young girl. We learn that this girl was his sister who had been killed in an accident. At the same time he shows acts of violence. In one scene he drops a rock off of a bridge so that the rock will hit the windshield of a passing vehicle. In another scene he is urinating at a trough in a restroom. A young man comes in happy and whistling. He looks at Jacek, the young man. Jacek pushes him into the trough. The cabdriver in one scene is washing his taxi. A couple approach and asks if he is free. He mentions what he is doing. The couple say that they will wait, because it is cold. When he has finished what he is doing, he leaves without any thought of the couple who have been waiting for him. Before he leaves he offers a ride to a young woman whom he has been eyeing. In another scene a man is walking two small dogs. He honks his horn to scare the dogs. He laughs as the dogs bark and their owner tries to get them settled down.

The theme of a rope runs throughout the film. In the opening credits a cat is seen hanging with a noose around its neck. Hanging from the windshield of the cab is what looks like the head of a demon hanging on a rope. Jacek is seen several times playing with a rope. This is the rope with which he strangles the cabdriver. It becomes obvious what he wants to do with the rope before he does it. There is a scene where he enters a cafe where he has coffee and a pastry. The lawyer is in the cafe. The lawyer later wonders if he could have prevented the murder, because Jacek talks about playing with the rope in the cafe. In the end Jacek is hanged.

This film is said to have led to national debate concerning the death penalty and led to the repeal of Poland's capital punishment statutes. (This is from the notes from the DVD case from Kino Video, 2004.)

Krzysztof Kieślowski was a maker of very films that are very moving.