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"Thou shalt not kill" - a shorter, slightly less graphic version of 'A Short Film About Killing', but the plot is essentially the same: murder followed by execution, two killings, one ... See full summary »

Director:

Krzysztof Kieslowski

Writers:

Krzysztof Piesiewicz, Krzysztof Kieslowski

Stars:

Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz

Cast

Episode cast overview, first billed only:
Miroslaw Baka	...	Lazar Jacek
Krzysztof Globisz	...	Piotr
Jan Tesarz	...	Taxi Driver
Artur Barcis	...	Survey Crewman
Krystyna Janda
Olgierd Lukaszewicz
Maciej Szary
Zbigniew Zapasiewicz	...	Police Inspector
Zbigniew Borek
Wladyslaw Byrdy
Aleksander Bednarz
Barbara Dziekan	...	Cashier (as B. Dziekan-Vajda)
Iwona Glebicka
Elzbieta Helman
Helena Kowalczykowa	...	Old Lady

Storyline

"Thou shalt not kill" - a shorter, slightly less graphic version of 'A Short Film About Killing', but the plot is essentially the same: murder followed by execution, two killings, one illegal, one legal, both hideous.

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Plot Keywords:

execution | murder | auteur tv | barking dog | freedom | 

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Genres:

Drama

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Details

Country:

Poland West Germany

Language:

Polish

Release Date:

1 June 1990 (Poland)

Filming Locations:

Warsaw, Mazowieckie, Poland

Box Office

Budget:

$100,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Telewizja Polska, Wytwórnia Filmów Dokumentalnych (Warszawa), Sender Freies Berlin (SFB)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

57 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

This episode extended and released as the feature length movie "A Short Film About Killing" (1988).

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Connections

Edited from A Short Film About Killing (1988)

User Reviews

The Best of the Series

Dostoevskian descent into hell, Dostoevskian comprehension of evil as inseparable from good and inseparably alloyed to suffering, thus deserving of mercy, no matter how brutal. The piling up of detail, the flow of events, is tight, relentless, funereal, and ominous, shot through half-smoked glass to lend it the surreality of a twilit underworld (compare to Alexander Sokurov's Mother and Son, 1997). With a minimum of strokes, the murderer is fully realized; his face alone is unforgettable; his flicking of coffee grounds at the girls in the cafe window illustrates in one simple gesture his murderous innocence. The killing itself is harrowing, hands-on ugly. The narrative is Spartan, matching its hardness to the tale. The only spurious step is the editorializing by the attorney against capital punishment; he would have been more effective if more reserved in his passion and anguish. To its credit, there's no silly color coding, no overtly intellectual structuralism. This is easily the most transparent, thus powerful, storytelling.