Dekalog 5

Instead of my usual scene-by-scene approach to the powerful closing of episode 5, I want to start at the end. The camera opens to a meadow, next to a forest. There’s a blinding ball of light coming from the forest. The camera pans to the left, across the meadow,

American culture is steeped in melodrama. The stories we tell follow a familiar pattern, always including a victim, a villain and a hero. Dekalog 5 slyly sets up this same pattern, giving us three characters in the beginning who represent these stock characteristics. But Kieslowski plays with these stock characteristics

I assume a good deal of time has passed from the trial to this day, the day of Miroslaw’s execution. It begins with Piotr entering the prison ground through an iron gate. He seems shocked at the sounds of the heavy metal doors closing behind him. Next he is

After the horrors of the last segment, Kieslowski quiets things down considerably here. It begins with the head judge in Miroslaw’s case saying that court is adjourned. We see Piotr, downcast, wearing his Polish judicial robe. Miroslaw asks him if they are finished. As Miroslaw is escorted out of

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

One interpretation of episode 5 is that harsh punishment not only doesn’t deter the worst instincts of humanity, in some cases it might encourage it. The argument is that people carrying around a deep sense of guilt over behavior that was allowed to slide without consequence are driven to