CRIME AND PUNISHMENT – REFLECTIONS ON A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING OF KRZYSZTOF KIEŚLOWSKI

Abstract

A Short Film About Killing of Krzysztof Kieślowski tells the story of a young man sentenced to death for brutal murder. Both the murder and the execution of the death penalty are presented with great realism. The film is the director's voice against killing anyone, also within institutionalized mechanisms. The work, created at the end of the 1980s, at a time of a clear disintegration of the totalitarian communist system, was appreciated by Western cinematography. The article discusses the plot of the film, characterizes the characters, also presents information about the death penalty in penal codes from the interwar period and People's Poland, death penalty in Poland at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, as well as views on the main punishment in the Judeo-Christian culture