Originally posted by MistaMista Tom Hagen: Just wanted to mention, the ending here and the storyline as a whole really reminded me of Dead Man Walking with Sean Penn. Ever seen it? I had the sort of reaction to that, that you felt towards this.
For me, the genius of Kieslowski was how he handled the two main characters in Decalogue 5/Short...Killing.
***Spoilers Ahead***
Usually, like in Dead Man Walking, in films dealing with capital punishment, the filmmaker presents the inmate so that we align our sympathies with them. Also, in such movies, the victims are presented as "good" and wrongly convicted.
We get neither from Kieslowski. The killer is not like Sean Penn. We have a hard time sympathizing and empathizing with him as we saw his terrible acts done with coldness, but Kieslowski presents him with a little heart (his love and guilt for his sister). Still, he is hard to accept. This complicates the audience's stance in regards to capital punishment. Does capital punishment become a little more acceptable in regards to a less sympathetic murderer than another?
As for the victim (the taxi cab driver), he is unlike most victims in most movies. The cab driver discriminates among passengers, lies to a couple that he'll give them a ride, etc.
Kieslowski avoids crude good versus bad. He gives us human beings - fallible, the capacity to do both good and bad.
