Between theory and post-theory by Slavoj Zizek: A journey through the work of Krzystof Kieslowski.
Zizek has had a huge influence upon film theory and academia generally. He is still best known for his use of the films of Hitchcock to explain Lacan. His basic method is to discuss scenes from films as illustrations of highly complex psychoanalytic or philosophical processes and thus to cast light not just on the way particular films achieve their effects but on the art of film itself.
A short film about killing, 1988
Directed by Krzystof Kieslowski
This film is about a young man that murders a Warsaw taxi driver in a particularly brutal way. There are no extenuating circumstances and the court condemns him to death.
Uncomfortable tension is created at the beginning of the film when the audience is shown a dead rat in dirty green water and a cat hanging from a rope. These images tell us that the film will contain brutal, gruesome scenes before we are shown them. This film plays on the fear and doubts that we all have, whether it is about our profession, the past or future prospects.
I felt guilty when I saw the brutal murder of a man I disliked earlier in the film because of his negative actions and miserable lifestyle. The film involves different people whose lives interlink and become a part of each other as the story develops. The story shows that any action (no matter how big or small) can affect the lives of more than one person. It is this cause and effect that can alter people's lives or perception of life that interests me.
The plot couldn't be simpler or its attack on capital punishment (and the act of killing in general) more direct - a senseless, violent, almost botched murder is followed by a cold, calculated, flawlessly performed execution (both killings shown in the most graphic detail imaginable), while the murderer's idealistic young defence lawyer ends up as an unwilling accessory to the judicial murder of his client.
Written by Michael Brooke {michael@everyman.demon.co.uk}http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095468/plotsummary
