35 years of A Short Film About Killing
On March 11, 1988, the premiere of the film "Krótki film o zabijaniu (A Short Film About Killing)" directed by Krzysztof Kieslowski took place in Poland.
The background to the creation of this film is as follows. Martial law, introduced by General Jaruzelski in December 1981 and lasted until July 1983, during which about 40 people were killed and more than 10 thousand were imprisoned, had a very negative impact on the mood of the progressive Polish intelligentsia, whose representative, no doubt, was Krzysztof Kieslowski. Under the influence of such a mood in 1984, Kieslowski, together with screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz, created a picture "Bez konca (No End)", touching on the topic of the consequences of the introduction of martial law. The film "No End", released on the screens of Polish cinemas in a limited edition on June 17, 1985, was very negatively evaluated by film critics. Moreover, both by film critics reflecting the point of view of the official, communist, authorities, and supporters of the "Solidarnośc" that has gone underground. This circumstance had a strong effect on Krzysztof Kieslowski, and he decided never to touch on political topics in his films again. Keslevsky decided to devote his work to universal, non-political topics, and first of all to create a television series about the ten biblical commandments. Together with Krzysztof Piesiewicz, they wrote the script of a television series called "Dekalog". It was envisaged that each episode of the ten-part series would be dedicated to a specific commandment, and the duration of each episode would not exceed one hour.
The script of the "Dekalog" was favorably received by the Ministry of Culture and Polish Television. But the funds allocated for the implementation of the project were enough to shoot only eight episodes. Then Kieslowski made a rather risky decision. He decided to use part of the allocated funds to shoot two episodes, but in the format of full-length feature films. Moreover, Kieslowski decided to shoot both of these episodes, focusing on the Western public, hoping to attract funding from abroad for the filming of the "Dekalog" conceived by him in full. Naturally, the director decided to dedicate the first of these two films conceived by Keslevsky to the most famous commandment - "Thou shalt not kill." Although in the structure of the "Dekalog" this episode was supposed to go at number 5.
It must be admitted that Kieslowski's plan was a brilliant success. Two months after the premiere in Poland, "A Short Film About Killing" (the word "short" in the title of the picture does not reflect its real duration, which is 1.5 hours traditional for a movie, but only emphasizes its connection with the planned television series) was nominated for the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. The main prize of the Cannes Film Festival was awarded by the decision of the jury chaired by the famous Italian director Ettore Scola to the Danish film "Pelle the Conqueror" by Bille August. But the third most important award of the festival - the Jury Prize - was awarded to Krzysztof Kieslowski.
In the same 1988, "A Short Film About Killing" was awarded the European Film Award. Moreover, in the competition for this award, the film of Krzysztof Kieslowski was ahead of the film "Pelle erobreren (Pelle the Conqueror)", and several other film masterpieces, in particular, "Der Himmel über Berlin (Wings of Desire)" by Wim Wenders and "Au Revoir les Enfants (Goodbye Children)" by Louis Malle. Naturally, at the Polish Film Festival "A Short Film About Killing", together with another part of Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Dekalog” - “Krótki film o milosci (A Short Film about Love)” - was awarded the main prize - Golden Lions. And two years later, "A Short Film About Killing" won the Danish Bodil Award for Best European Film. The festival success of "A Short Film About Killing" allowed Kieslowski to solve the problem of financing the production of the "Dekalog" series: Berlin producer Manfred Durmiok invested $ 100,000 in the project.
Most film critics generally praised "A Short Film About Killing". The most generalized assessment of the film is the review of Jonathan Rosenbaum:
"A Short Film About Killing is a feature that might be called terminally Polish in its bleak handling of a brutal killing and the public execution of the murderer. It won the jury prize at Cannes and is probably the most powerful movie about the death penalty ever made."
Another famous American film critic James Berardinelli rated Krzysztof Kieslowski's film with three and a half stars out of four possible and in his review noted:
"Wrenching in its uncompromising indictment of capital punishment, A Short Film About Killing doesn't pull punches. Sitting through this film is the emotional equivalent of going through a grinder. Everything about the production is dark -- from its themes and characters to the manner in which Kieslowski and cinematographer Slawomir Idiak chose to shoot the picture. Bleaker even than Blue, A Short Film About Killing captures the perfect tone for an autopsy of its subject matter...A Short Film About Killing is as grim as a motion picture gets, but the intelligence and insight applied to its themes will keep the viewer riveted despite the pervasive gloom. Whether an individual agrees or disagrees with Kieslowski's position on the issue of capital punishment, there is no denying that his case against it is powerfully made. And, while the director cannot answer the question of why men kill, his scrutiny of murder offers a bloody portrait worth repeated study."
However, not all critics held the same opinion. For example, Caryn James from The New York Times, on the contrary, found Kieslowski's arguments against the death penalty weak and unconvincing, noting in her review:
"The film forces the audience to confront the most vile aspects of life, without offering enough intellectual substance to justify sitting through such brutality."
However, if we recall the well-known dictum of Karl Marx “Practice is the criterion of truth”, one should admit that the columnist for the mouthpiece of the US Democratic Party is wrong. Since under the influence of the Kieslowski film, the Polish government announced a 5-year moratorium on the death penalty.
An interesting remark about the film was made in its review by the famous Russian film critic Sergei Kudryavtsev. Rather, not even about the film itself, but about the translation of its name into Russian. The fact is that the Polish word "zabijaniu" contained in the name, as well as the English "killing", from the English translation of the name, corresponds more to the Russian word "убивании". Or, if you recall that the film is part of the Decalogue cycle, inspired by the biblical ten commandments, - "убиении". It would seem an insignificant detail of a purely linguistic nature. But, in my opinion, this inaccuracy can lead to disorientation of the viewer. The word "murder" in the title will more likely attract fans of criminal genre. Who, perhaps, having watched the film of Kieslowski, will be disappointed. But the word "killing" more emphasizes the parable of the film. However, it is possible that Russian film distributors deliberately ignored this linguistic nuance in order to attract the attention of a larger number of viewers. Anyway, almost 71% of IMDB and Kinopoisk users around the world gave this film ratings from 8 to 10.
Taking into account the listed success indicators, the "A Short Film About Killing" by Krzysztof Kieslowski, according to FilmGourmand, has a rating of 9,320 and ranks 109th in the Golden Thousand. In total, 12 films by Polish cinematographers were included in the Golden Thousand, and Krzysztof Kieslowski's film has the highest rating of these 12. On this basis, it can be concluded that the "A Short Film About Killing" by Krzysztof Kieslowski is the best film of Polish cinema.
