I mentioned in the last essay that Episode 5 looks like nothing else in The Dekalog. There are a couple of reasons for this. First, when Kieslowski was finding the funds for The Dekalog, he played a little trick on the Polish arts funding apparatus. He applied through normal government channels for the funding he needed for the series, but simultaneously, he sought additional funding for two feature length films to be created simultaneously.

This allowed Kieslowski to have a significantly larger budget for The Dekalog as was typical for Polish TV. And it provided the impetus for him to expand two of the episodes into feature length films, one of them being episode 5, which was expanded into “A Short Film About Killing.”

Knowing that this episode would need to be more cinematic, Kieslowski planned for it to have a different look. But it’s interesting just how different it looks when you consider that the series features 10 different cinematographers. The original plan of the series was for the scripts to be handed off to 10 young filmmakers. But Kieslowski recognized the artistic potential of the series and backed off the plan. He made up for this change of heart by giving 10 cinematographers the opportunity to put their unique stamps of the project.

The director of photography for episode 5 was Slawomir Idziak. Before The Dekalog, Idziak shot more than a dozen B movies in Poland. But after this episode, his career exploded. He would go on to serve as cinematographer for “The Double Life of Veronique” and “Three Colours: Blue,” followed up by the underrated John Sayles gem “Men with Guns,” “Gattaca” and “Black Hawk Down,” which earned him a Best Cinematography Oscar.

As we return to the action, we notice the return of Dorota and Andrzej Geller, the married couple from episode 2. Perhaps we shouldn’t assume that the 10 episodes of The Dekalog happen in sequence … but also, since this episode spans a much longer time frame than everything else in The Dekalog, it is possible that it began much earlier than the other episodes, but caught up in the timeline later. This perhaps accounts for why Dorota does not look pregnant in this scene — and why Andrzej looks so healthy.

By the way, the actress who played Dorota, Krystyna Janda, was a major star throughout Eastern Europe in the years leading up to The Dekalog. She was the star of the 1976 film “Man of Marble” by legendary Polish director Andrej Wajda and later co-starred in the Oscar winning Hungarian film “Mephisto.” So The Dekalog both looks forward to the bloom career of Slawomir Idziak and looked backwards to Janda’s bright career.

Dorota and Andrzej have very little to do in this segment — they just want a cab. Jan tells them to go wait at the cabstand while he finishes washing his car. It’s a very cold day, so this isn’t a pleasant little wait. One curiosity though — although The Watcher doesn’t make an appearance in this episode, Andrzej somewhat plays the role of a watchers by checking up on what Jan is up to … and he clearly doesn’t like this intrusion.

Next, Piotr says something that he frames in the context of “our work,” but sounds an awful lot like the framing Kieslowski applies to all of the Dekalog episodes. He says that people are increasingly having a hard time believing in what they are doing and that there’s been an erosion of values — nihilism, to be short. He is once again introducing the thought that characters in The Dekalog begin each episode unsure why they are living. They lack purpose and direction.

Miroslaw can be seen at this moment noticing pictures from a wedding. He’s transfixed by a little girl in the photos, apparently serving as the ring bearer. We do not get the sense from Miroslaw’s focus on these girls that he has a prurient interest in them. Unlike Jan, who sexualizes younger women, Miroslaw’s interest comes across as sad and protecting.

We next see Jan again pay attention to the young woman at the grocery store, who crosses his field of vision to catch up to a customer. (She actually tells this woman that they failed to charge her for something, but instead of paying, she just walks off … more social corruption.) Jan then offers the young woman a ride in his cab. She gives him a smirk and shimmies off. Andrzej notices him flirting with this girl, which apparently makes Jan feel guilty over the exchange — or perhaps just angry at Andrzej for not minding his own business — leading him to drive off without taking the Gellers on their promised ride.

Moved by the pictures of the angelic young woman from the wedding photos, Miroslaw goes inside and approaches the photo shop clerk. At first he pulls out some rope and a metal shaft, putting them on the table. The clerk asks if he is there to fix the shelves. He looks confused and says no. Then he takes out a picture of a young woman — apparently a first communion photo — with a large crease down the middle. He asks if he can get it enlarged. The clerk says that the crease will be noticeable in the enlargement, but Miroslaw doesn’t care. He then asks if you can know someone is alive by their photo, leading the clerk to exclaim that someone was pulling his leg.

We return now to Piotr’s interview and he is speaking with surprising candor, saying that the harshness of many criminal penalties are more about preserving the power of the government, showing off the power that they hold. The person interviewing him objects to his tone — calling him sarcastic at one point — but Piotr is not deterred.

Now we go back to Jan, who oddly finds a stray dog while driving in his cab and throws him half a sandwich, prepared by “the wife.” Put a pin in this detail: his wife is apparently capable of making him lunch (why would he lie to a dog?) but later, in a crucial scene, he says that she is disabled and relies on him for everything.

Back to Miroslaw, he walks through a crowd of sports revelers, then uses a public restroom. A man dressed in white, whistling, enters the restroom and pulls up to another urinal. He smiles at Miroslaw in a possibly sexual gesture. Miroslaw reacts harshly to this, push the man into the urinal and messing up his clothing. Again, we get that strange behavioral zig and zag from Miroslaw, we can’t get a good read on him.

Miroslaw next sees someone get in a cab — it looks like it could be the same young woman we saw before getting into Jan’s cab, but we don’t know this for sure. Immediately Miroslaw starts noticing police. He clearly has a guilty conscience about something. Perhaps the rock overpass accident or the man he just assaulted. Or it could be something darker in his past. Seeing the authority makes him step cautiously and eye the police officer warily.

He clearly wants to get a cab at this time, but fearing the police, he steps into a coffee shop, getting a coffee and cream puff. Piotr cuts in to say that since the days of Cain, people have never been intimidated or deterred by force. Miroslaw sips and eats, watching the police officer, noticing a police van drive up … and then we can see his relief when the officer gets in the van and they drive off.