Search Museum of the Moving Image

Loading Events

Courtesy of Janus Films

SCREENING

A Short Film About Killing

Friday, Dec 16 at 6:00 pm

Location: Bartos Screening Room

Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski. 1987, 84 mins. DCP. With Miroslaw Baka, Krzysztof Globisz, Jan Tesarz, Zbigniew Zapasiewicz. Polish master Krzysztof Kieslowski chose two scripts from his epic 10-part, 10-hour, 10 Commandments–inspired series Dekalog to expand into features, the first of which was based on episode 6, aka “Thou Shalt Not Commit Murder.” After a youth randomly and brutally murders a taxi driver, an idealistic young attorney is assigned to defend the murderer. The film, which arrived like a rock through the window amid Poland’s debate on capital punishment, is one of the most powerful statements on the death penalty ever committed to film. Strikingly photographed by Slawomir Idziak and ingeniously conceived as a moral diptych with co-screenwriter Krzysztof Piesiewicz (there are no protracted courtroom scenes, there is no character psychology), Kieslowski’s masterpiece is shocking not only for the graphic brutality of both its murder and execution scenes, but for its daring condemnation of “crime in the name of the law.”

See alongside Kieslowski’s A Short Film About Love (at 8 p.m.): $20. Order tickets.

Tickets: $15 / $11 senior and students / $9 youth (ages 3–17) / discounted for MoMI members ($7–$11). Order tickets. Please pick up tickets at the Museum’s admissions desk upon arrival. All seating is general admission. Review safety protocols before your visit.