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A Short Film About Killing
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Wikipedia article
'A Short Film About Killing' is a 1988 drama film directed by Krzysztof Kielowski and starring Mirosaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, and Jan Tesarz. Written by Krzysztof Kielowski and Krzysztof Piesiewicz, the film was expanded from 'Dekalog: Five' of the Polish television series 'Dekalog'. Set in Warsaw, Poland, the film compares the senseless, violent murder of an individual to the cold, calculated execution by the state. 'A Short Film About Killing' won both the Jury Prize and the FIPRESCI Prize at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival, as well as the European Film Award for Best Film.
Plot
Waldemar Rekowski (Jan Tesarz) is a middle-aged taxicab driver in Warsaw. An overweight and crude man, he enjoys staring at young women. Jacek azar (Mirosaw Baka) is a 21-year-old drifter who recently arrived in Warsaw from the countryside and is now aimlessly wandering the streets of the city. He seems to take pleasure in causing other people's misfortunes: he throws a stranger into the urinals of a public toilet after being approached sexually; he drops a large stone from a bridge onto a passing vehicle causing an accident; and he scares away pigeons to spite an old lady who was feeding them. Piotr Balicki (Krzysztof Globisz) is a young and idealistic lawyer who has just passed the bar exam. He takes his wife to a caf where they discuss their future. At the same caf, Jacek is sitting at a table handling a length of rope and a stick which he keeps in his bag. He puts away the rope and stick when he spots two girls playing at the other side of the window and he engages in a game with them. Jacek is later revealed to have been deeply traumatised by the death of his sister.
Meanwhile, Waldemar has been driving his taxicab around the city looking for a fare. He stops near the caf just as Jacek approaches and enters the cab. He asks to be driven to a remote part of the city near the countryside and insists the driver take a longer and more remote route. At their destination, Jacek murders Waldemar, by strangling him with the rope and then hitting him repeatedly with a large rock.
Some time later, Jacek is caught and imprisoned. He is interviewed by his criminal defense lawyer, Piotr, for whom this is his first case after finishing his legal studies. Piotr has little chance of winning the case against Jacek because of the strong evidence against his client. In spite of Piotr's efforts, Jacek is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. Piotr approaches a judge afterwards asking if he could have done more to save his client's life. The judge says that Piotr gave the best argument against the death penalty he has heard in years, but that the legal outcome is correct.
On the appointed day, the executioner arrives at the jail and prepares for the hanging. Piotr is at the prison to attend the execution, and an official congratulates him on having just become a father. In the moments before his execution, Jacek reveals to Piotr that his younger sister was killed by a tractor driven by his drunken friend, and that he was drinking with him; he says he never fully recovered from the tragic episode. Jacek then requests that he be given the final space in his family's grave which was reserved for his motherthat he be buried next to his sister and his father. The warden repeatedly asks if they are finished talking; Piotr defiantly says he will never be finished. Jacek makes some petty last requests to his lawyer. They conclude that things would have turned out differently if the girl had not tragically died.
Jacek is then taken from his cell and marched to the execution chamber by several prison guards. The confirmation of his sentence is read to him, as well as the decision to deny clemency. He is given last rites by a priest, and offered a final cigarette by the warden. When he requests to have one without filter instead, the executioner steps forward, lights one of his cigarettes and puts it into Jacek's mouth. Jacek takes a few puffs before it is stubbed out. Just before he is hanged, he breaks free from his guards and begins to yell uncontrollably before his hands are shackled and he is hanged. Afterwards, Piotr drives to an empty field where he sobs.
Cast
* Mirosaw Baka as Jacek Lazar
* Krzysztof Globisz as Piotr Balicki (Advocate)
* Jan Tesarz as Waldemar Rekowski (Taxi driver)
* Zbigniew Zapasiewicz as Committee Chairman
* Barbara Dziekan as Cashier
* Aleksander Bednarz as The Executioner
* Jerzy Zass as Police Commander
* Zdzisaw Tobiasz as Judge
* Artur Barci as Young Man
* Krystyna Janda as Dorota
* Olgierd ukaszewicz as Andrzej
* Peter Falchi as British Motorist
* Elzbieta Helman as Beatka
* Wadysaw Byrdy as a helper of Executioner
* Maciej Maciejewski as Prosecutor
Background
'A Short Film About Killing' was released in the same year that the death penalty was suspended in Poland. In 1988 the country carried out just a single execution, with 6 condemned prisoners being hanged in 1987. The portrayal of the execution method and procedure is mostly accurate, though, in reality, the date of executions were a surprise to the prisoner; the condemned man would simply be led into a room to discover it was the execution chamber. After the early years of Communist repression, executions were quite rare and invariably for murder; from 1969 a total of 183 men were hanged and no women.
Themes
;Social class
In her article about the film, Janina Falkowska describes the brutality of the effects class societies have on the lower class, emphasizing on the "hopelessness" of the latter and false hope of the former.Falkowska, J. (Winter 1995). "'The Political' in the Films of Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski" in 'Cinema Journal'. 34 (2), pp. 37-50.
;Law and politics
Falkowska also talks about the law as a personified entitycapable of being both just and unjust, responsible for saving and ruining lives. Its integrity is thus significant to the fate of the protagonist.
;Death and mutiny
Cine-literacy author Charles V. Eidsvik suggests there is a "presence of senseless malice in the film", a notion reiterated in the forms of death and mutiny.Eidsvik, Charles (Fall 1990) "Kieslowski's Short Films" in 'Film Quarterly'. Found here: http://www.petey.com/kk/docs/shorts1.txt
Style
The film shows a very bleak Poland near the end of the Communist era. This is greatly enhanced by the strong use of colour filters to distort the images of Warsaw, creating a raw, unattractive image. The print appears to have an effect similar to sepia tone or bleach bypassalthough it is a colour picture, the photography combined with grey locations provides an effect similar to monochrome.
Kielowski credits his cinematographer, Slawomir Idziak, for this deliberate visual unattractiveness within the film, stating: "I sense that the world is becoming more and more ugly. . . . I wanted to dirty this world. . . . We used green filters that give this strange effect, allowing us to mask all that isnt essential to the image".Haltof, Marek (2004) the cinema of Krzysztof Kielowski: variations on destiny and chance (London: Wallflower Press). Pp. 92-93 When Kieslowski first showed Idziak the screenplay, he commented, saying, "I cant even read this! It disgusts me," and then finally conceded, "Ill shoot it only on the condition that you let me do it green and use all my filters, with which Ill darken the image." Kieslowski was not pleased, but he accepted the ultimatum, telling Idziak, "if you want to make green shit, its your affair." The cinematographer concluded, "Thats how the graphic concept came about which Cahiers Du Cinema wrote that it was the most originally shot movie in the Cannes Film Festival."Insdorf, Annette (1999). 'Double Lives, Second Chances: The Cinema of Krzysztof Kielowski'. New York: Hyperion, p. 95. Idziak also used a hand held camera when filming; this gave an added raw feel to the film as it follows the daily routines of the film's protagonist.
Production
Filming locations
The film was shot on location in Warsaw and Siedlce. Like the gloomy events portrayed in the film, the capital city of Warsaw is depicted as a repellent, depressing place: grey, brutal and peopled by alienated characters. Several areas of the city were used:Haltof, Marek (2004) the cinema of Krzysztof Kielowski: variations on destiny and chance (London: Wallflower Press)* Krakowskie Przedmiecie, Srdmiescie, Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
* Old Town, rdmiecie, Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
* Siedlce, Mazowieckie, Poland
* Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland
Reception
Critical response
The Polish premiere coincided with a heated debate in Poland about capital punishment. Although the film's diegesis does not directly address political events, it is unanimously interpreted as a political statement. The Polish audience did not like the parallel alluded to between a murder committed by an individual and a murder committed by the state. Despite this controversy, the majority of critics praised Kieslowski's film and it was nominated for and won a multitude of awards.Falkowska, J. (winter, 1995). "The Political in the Films of Andrzej Wajda and Krzysztof Kieslowski. Cinema journal . 34 (2), pp.37-50. Film critic Derek Malcolm ranked the film at No. 56 on his list of the "Top 100 Movies" in 2001.'Sight & Sound' magazine conducts a poll of film directors every ten years to find out what they consider the ten greatest films of all time. In 2012, Cyrus Frisch voted for 'A Short Film About Killing'. Frisch commented: "In Poland, this film was instrumental in the abolition of the death penalty."[https://web.archive.org/web/20120827010134/http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/voter/920 BFI] The film is among 21 digitally restored classic Polish films chosen for 'Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema.'[http://www.mspresents.com/ Martin Scorsese Presents: Masterpieces of Polish Cinema]
Awards and nominations
* 1988 Cannes Film Festival FIPRESCI Prize (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'* 1988 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
* 1988 Cannes Film Festival Nomination for the Palme d'Or (Krzysztof Kielowski)
* 1988 European Film Award for Best Film (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
* 1988 Polish Film Festival Golden Lion Award (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
* 1990 Bodil Award for Best European Film (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
* 1990 French Syndicate of Cinema Critics Award for Best Foreign Film (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
* 1990 Robert Festival Award for Best Foreign Film (Krzysztof Kielowski) 'Won'
Differences with 'Dekalog: Five'
According to the funding deal that Kielowski had with TV Poland to make 'Dekalog', two of the episodes would be expanded into films. Kieslowski himself selected 'Dekalog: Five', leaving the second for the Polish ministry of culture. The Ministry selected 'Dekalog: Six' and funded both productions.
The cinematic release of 'Dekalog: Five': A Short film about killing, premiered in Polish cinemas in March 1988.
Although the main plot in both works is the same, 'Dekalog: Five' has a different order in editing and makes more use of voice-over, whereas the film starts differently and gives a more prominent role to Piotr, the lawyer. 'Dekalog: Five' suddenly jumps from the killing scene to jail and there is no connection or explanation on how Jacek got arrested. A few scenes and lines of dialogue do not feature in 'Dekalog: Five', to keep it within the time limitations for TV as intended.
See also
*Capital punishment in Poland
References
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