One of the reasons why I enjoy Kieslowski films is that he examines serious issues without resorting to the violent trappings of contemporary cinema. These days it doesn’t seem like a film is taken seriously unless it has a fair share of brutal violence. Kieslowski always stood opposed to this impulse.

This segment is stark exception to that rule. But even here, Kieslowski demonstrates that he is not comfortable with the violence being portrayed and looks for numerous ways to deflect the camera’s gaze away from it whenever possible. The effect is to make the segment even more intense.

It begins with Miroslaw telling Jan to stop the car, not go any further. Jan sarcastically replies that he wouldn’t be taking him any farther. This is enough friction to permit Miroslaw to begin his attack. He takes his roped hands and reaches over Jan’s head, wrapping the rope around his neck and pulling tight.

The film stays on the hands around the neck for only a few seconds, then cuts to an exterior shot of the car. It runs into an embankment and Jan, struggling with his feet, spins his wheels. We then cut back inside the car — strangling noises prevalent — and see Jan’s feet wriggling out of his shoes. Then it’s briefly back to Miroslaw’s intense face, his roped hand, and a shot of Jan’s neck.

But the camera then pulls away and focuses on a bicycle rider on a hill in the distance. We can still hear Jan struggling, but Kieslowski doesn’t wish to show us. He instead offers this distant hope, someone who could possibly hear and intervene.

The bicycle rides off. Jan is again struggling and we can see Miroslaw’s scrunched face. Jan reached for the horn of the car. If he’d done this maybe 15 seconds sooner it could have made a difference. Now, only a horses hears it and turns toward the sound. But Miroslaw is still freaked out by the horn. He ties the rope around the headrest, gets out of the car and, with the metal rod he’s been carrying, starts to beat Jan’s hands to get him to release the horn.

Just as Jan finally releases the horn, we see a train in the distance, muffling out any further sound. Jan pulls at the headrest and tries to loosen the rope, but Miroslaw then comes around to the driver’s door, opens it, and starts smashing Jan with the metal rod, this time on his head.

Miroslaw now looks down at Jan’s bloodied face and is horrified by it. He says “Jesus,” then goes to the hatchback to find a shirt, which he brings back to cover Jan’s face. He then pushes Jan’s body into the passenger side of the car and starts driving it, off road. He finds a spot to stop near a lake. He pulls Jan out feet first and starts dragging him towards the lake.

Jan is not yet dead and he begins to make some sounds. He starts mumbling about a safe … money … how his wife needs him. Miroslaw goes looking for a large rock to finish him off and finds one. He approaches Jan, gets on his knees, raises the rock … but then hesitates as Miroslaw makes one last plea for his life. He do not see the rock come down on Jan’s head, although we hear a sound that indicates Miroslaw might have crushed him.

The film cuts to Miroslaw at the car. He throws the taxi sign towards the lake. Then he gets in the car. He opens the glove compartment and eats the other half of the sandwich Jan took for lunch (he gave away the first half to a stray dog.) He notes the demon head that Jan has hanging from his rear view mirror and has a small smile. He then turns on the radio … it is oddly playing a children’s song about a brave and clever lion.

This incenses Miroslaw, who rips the radio out of the car and drops it down, where it falls in a puddle.

It’s a difficult scene to watch — even more difficult to write about — but it is not the last act of violence in this episode of The Dekalog. The colder, more brutal one is yet to come.