249 - Dekalog: Five, 1990, Poland. Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Wednesday, September 6, 2017

249 - Dekalog: Five, 1990, Poland.  Dir. Krzysztof Kieslowski.

Exodus 20:13 - Thou shalt not kill.

Deuteronomy 5:17 - Thou shalt not kill.

Lazar Jacek is a killer without a cause.

Piotr Balicki is a new lawyer with a new baby.

Waldemar Rekowski is a taxi driver.

Jacek wanders the streets restlessly, harming others for sport.  He throws a man into the urinals in the public restroom.  He stands on a bridge and pelts cars below with rocks.  He throws food against the glass window of a restaurant to entertain two girls looking through it.

Maybe we should call him Alex.  As in Malcolm McDowell.  As in Clockwork Orange.

He gets into Waldemar's taxi.

Take me to the country.

They go to a secluded place.

Jacek kills Rekowski.

Brutally.

In this movie the Travis Bickle character is not driving.  He is the passenger.

This is not Taxi Driver.  It is Taxi Rider.

Piotr Balicki is assigned to Jacek's case.

He is the defense attorney.

He loses.

He thinks it is about him.  He loses.

After the verdict and the sentencing--the death penalty--Balicki risks going to the judge in his chambers.

He wants a debriefing on the briefing.

What did I do wrongly?

He thinks it is about him.

The judge explains.  You did nothing wrongly.  In fact, you made one of the most eloquent arguments against capital punishment that has been made.  But the law is the law, and Jacek broke the law.

Balicki goes to Jacek.  In jail.

Jacek tells his story.  His sister died five years ago.  When his friend ran over her with a tractor.  His friend was drunk.  His friend was drinking vodka with Jacek.

Balicki loved his sister.  He was her favorite.  He carries her picture.  He shows Balicki her picture. He wants to be buried next to her.  And their father.  In the plot reserved for their mother.  He asks Balicki to ask his mother if he may have her plot.

Jacek is hanged.