dekalog, five (w&d krysztof kieslowski, w. krzysztof piesiewicz)

Of course I watched this thinking I had seen it before. I hadn’t. I’d seen a Short Film About Killing. This is the shorter version, the sketch, if you like. But this shouldn’t in any way detract. The shorter version is astonishing. Perhaps more so than the longer. Kieslowski employs a sparse dialogue. Images are distorted. A vignette blurs the edges of the frame. For a while we have no idea who is the protagonist. The stressed out lawyer or the unpleasant taxi driver or the youth. Then we realise it’s the youth. The killer, who will be killed. The narrative is already chopped in three, and then, as the pieces come together, the whole thing coalesces into a terrible, mortal whole. The ultimate effect, compressed into 55 minutes, is devastating, Needless death begets needless death. You can see why the director chose this tale to expand. But you can also see why it wasn’t entirely necessary.