A Short Film About Killing [Krótki film o zabijaniu] **** (1988, Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz) – Classic Movie Review 8443

Filmed in autumnal hues, with unsettling camera shots and jump cuts to disturbing images, Polish director Krzysztof Kieslowski’s thought-provoking 1988 crime drama A Short Film About Killing [Krótki film o zabijaniu] is the deeply troubling story of the senseless killing of a taxi-driver and the execution of his yobbish murderer.

The film is astonishingly forceful and alarming. Kieslowski refuses to shed tears over the subject and lingers over both deaths in explicitly gruesome particulars. It is impossible not to be moved by this masterly attack on eye-for-an-eye justice as Kieslowski mounts a bull’s eye aim against capital punishment.

The film was also action-provoking. It made an enormous impact in Poland and is said to have helped to sway the Polish government to introduce a five-year moratorium on capital punishment.

A Short Film About Killing is the winner of the Jury Prize and International Critics’ FIPRESCI Prize (tied) at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. It won the Golden Lion at the Polish Film Festival (1988) tied with Kieslowski’s companion feature A Short Film About Love (1988).

It stars Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, and Zbigniew Zapasiewicz.

A Short Film About Killing [Krótki film o zabijaniu] is directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski, runs 84 minutes, is made by Film Unit Tor, Zespoly Filmowe and Polish Film Producers’ Corporation, is released by Gala, is written by Krzysztof Piesiewicz and Krzysztof Kieslowski, kis shot by Slawomir Idziak, is produced by Ryszard Chutkowski, and is scored by Zbigniew Preisner.

Kieslowski’s fifth commandment of his Ten Commandments TV series is available on DVD as a 60-minute TV episode and is also released as an 84-minute cinema feature.

It is rated suitable for 18 years and over.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 8443

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