A Short Film About Killing (1988) - full transcript

A SHORT FILM ABOUT KILLING

Screenplay bY

Directed by

Throwing away rags?

They can come in handy.

Someone threw it at me.

Did it hit you?

No.

You seen anyone around
with rags like this?

I don't like cats.

They're as treacherous
as people.



Is the movie any good?

No, it's boring.

What's it about?

Love. But it's boring.

Besides, it's not showing
till this afternoon.

There's a meeting now.

What are you doing?

Pulling out gray hairs.

You know...

where the nearest taxi stand is?

Castle Square.

He//0.

Hello.

P/'0z'r Ba//ck/' ?



Come in, please.

Would you like a portrait?

What do you charge?

Two thousand.

It takes that long?

What's the problem, my friend?

You're not paying for my time.

You're paying-~

for my talent.

You got a talent?

No.

Can you make shoes?

Or grow a tree?

A tree?

Yeah, I can do that.

No need to worry, then.

Which way is Castle Square?

Straight ahead.

Here you are.

I hesitate
not because I can't answer,

but because l've been asked
that question twice before.

The answer was easy
on the entrance exam.

Then four years ago,
in this same building,

I wasn't so sure anymore.

And now...

it's a good question.

Why do I want to be
a public defender?

Shall I give an honest answer

or say what l'm supposed to?

We want to get to know you.

To put it briefly, I don't know.

L'm drawn to it.

L've seen a lot
these last four years.

It's a job

that you might say
has a social function.

It's important to me
that it fill a need.

But most important
of all is that -

if all goes well here -

l'll be able to meet
and understand people

l'd never meet
in any other profession.

That's why.

I think that with the passing years,
the answer becomes...

all the more elusive.

Everyone wonders
if what they do has any meaning.

L'm afraid our doubts grow
stronger and stronger.

Delivery!

Beata, hurry up.

Hello.

Go away.

You're scaring the pigeons.

Go away!

Swine!

Are you free?

You can see l'm washing it.

We'll wait. lt's cold.

What is your view

of crime prevention in general?

In general terms,
it's the impact of punishment

not so much on the convict
as on other people,

so that they don't behave
like the convict did.

Shall I be more specific?
- Yes.

It's about how
the convict deters others.

The convict becomes the deterrent.

Simply put,
it's frightening people.

Article 50 of the Penal Code
discusses this.

I don't appreciate your ironic tone.

It's a questionable justification
for cruel punishment.

L'm not alone in that opinion.
And it's often unfair.

Could you support your thesis

with some sort of authoritative

or classical quotation?

“Since Cain,

the world has neither been
intimidated nor ameliorated

by punishment.”

Need I name the author?
- That's not necessary.

Ma'am, we forgot to charge
for the vegetables.

Care for a ride somewhere,
Beata?

Excuse me!

My wife made it.

Want it?

Eatup.

- Hello.
- Yes?

Ihave_.

You here to hang pictures?

No.

I thought you were.

I have a photograph.

Could you

enlarge it?

The crease will still be there.

That's okay.

All right.

Excuse me.

Can you really tell
from someone's picture

if they're alive or not?

Someone's been pulling your leg.

- How are things?
- Couldn't be better.

Choose the last number for me,
like you always do.

Seventeen.

I have that already.

Sixteen.

That close?

Then 15.

You always fill them out
so carefully.

I like order.

You're always lucky.

How much did you win
last month?

412.

And 1,200 in autumn, right?

Last week you won 46.

You do all right.
- l'm getting by.

But one always hopes...
you know...

Yeah.

One always hopes.

Our team's the best!

We support the best team!

Piotr Balicki.

/'m pleased to inform you
that you passed your examination.

After your four- year /'n2'ems/7/;0,

you are now a fellow lawyer.

Congratulations.
- Thank you.

All that's left
is to take the oath.

I passed the bar!

L'm a lawyer!

L'm a lawyer now!

'Passed!

Piotr, stop fooling around.

What?

Get on.

You German?

Bulgarian?

Let me tell your fortune.

Spare a few coins
for my child.

You will travel abroad.

No!

No, /'m not afraid of an yz'/7/ng.

Let me read your palm.

L'll tell you the truth.

All right,
but nothing but the truth.

- Yes?
- Tea.

We don '2' have tea.

- What do you have?
- Coffee and pastries.

A coffee and a pastry, then.

- What kind?
- A cream puff.

Not that one. That one there.

Your line of fortune is long and strong.

Two children.

VVhen?

There are moments in life...

when everything seems possible.

Your path is clear.
You can do anything you desire.

I felt that way
after high school.

I thought it would
never happen again.

But I feel it again now.

When you cross a certain threshold,
there's a moment...

when you feel
everything is up to you, right?

Exactly.

You know what I think?

No.

Ineverdo.

People will love you...

just as I do now.

Are you by any chance

going to Mokotéw?
- No. Wola.

We're in a hurry.

Mokotéw.

Where were they going?

Wola.

Hold your horses.

Hothead.

- What is it?
- Nothing.

I was just thinking
it might not all be so easy.

Could you roll
the window up a bit?

It's cold.

Left here.

Straight ahead is better.

I prefer this way.

As you wish.

Stop. We're here.

The road's closed ahead.
- I wasn't going any farther.

Jesus_.

Hiding place...

money...

my wife...

money...

all alone...

Please...

Ibeg you...

/'// tell you
of a bra I/e //'2'2'/e go/den //on

Whose courage
grew greater e very day

All the grown-up //ans

7'0/0' /7/'m

That' a //'on
musz' always be //on/7ean'ed

/understand I/e/y well
and I //ke to be brave

Buz' somez'/"mes I gez' so scared

Can I still buy potatoes?

Jacek? Come in!

Hi, Beata.
Going to bed already?

After I have a bite.
lt's dark.

Come outside a second.
I have something to show you.

Do I need a coat?

No, you're fine.

- Is it far?
- lt's right here.

I told you. Get in.

You wanted to go somewhere.

Now we can go all over.

You said you have a customer

who goes to the mountains.

Herhusband.

Herhusband.

We can go to the mountains.

We'll put the seats down.

I have a blanket.

The weather will warm up soon.

Where'd you get this car?

This court is adjourned.

Is it over, Mr. Balicki?

It's over.

It's me.

I lost.

Yes, utterly.

I have no idea.

Maybe l'll go for a walk.

No, don't come.

How are you feeling?

Did you get some sleep?

Good.

Yes. Bye.

Excuse me.

Jacek.

Excuse me.

Your Honor, I know
this isn't customary practice.

Indeed... it's not.

I wanted to ask you,
now that it's over:

Would it have made
any difference if he'd had

an older, more renowned
lawyer to defend him

instead of me?

Absolutely not.

Perhaps my words didn't -

Perhaps if I had -

Your summation

was perhaps
the most eloquent indictment

of capital punishment
that l've heard in years.

But the sentence
couldn't have been any different.

You were faultless,

as a lawyer
and as a human being.

Despite
the difficult circumstances...

l'm glad to have met you.

- Good-bye.
- In this case...

one could perhaps have wished
for a betterjudge.

What happens now

is my responsibility.

Is that any consolation?
- No.

Perhaps this doesn't
really matter,

but when that boy described

how he'd wrapped the rope
around his hand in that café...

I was there.
- Where?

In that café,
at that very moment.

It was a year ago.
l'd just taken my bar exam.

Perhaps -

Perhaps I could
have done something.

You're too sensitive
for this profession.

- Too late to change that.
- True.

You've aged a bit today.

Good-bye.

The warden
will be with you soon.

- How are you?
- lt's too hot.

Hello.

The curtain's stuck.

Clean up in here.

Come in.

- Everything's ready, Warden.
- Thank you.

Have No. 24 come to my office.

He's on his way.

Thank you.

I expected as much.
- Me too.

Counselor...

you'll have half an hour.

Half an hour.

All right.

Come in.

Yes, sir?

Escort this gentleman.

May I leave my briefcase?

- Hello, Counselor.
- Hello.

L'm going to see him.
He wants to talk to me.

Quite a difficult duty.

Yes, it is.

Prosecutor,
it's the first time I -

I hope it will be your last.

Counselor.

This isn't the best moment,
but we so rarely meet.

My congratulations.
I hear you had a son.

Yes.

Just recently. Thank you.

You wanted to see me.

Yes.

Have you seen my mother?

Ihave.

Was she crying?

Yes.

Did she ask you

to tell me anything?

Did she say anything?

No.

She just cried.

Have a seat.

Could you -

Could you...

see my mother again?

Afterwards.

Yes.

Of course.

I thought l'd ask you because...

as they led me
to the paddy wagon that day...

you called out my name.

I called out to you -

I wanted -

I don't know what I wanted.

L'm almost 21

but when you called my name...

my eyes filled with tears.

I said

in court-

I didn't listen in court.

Not until you called out to me.

They were all

against me,
just like everyone here.

They're against what you did.

It's the same thing.

So you want me
to see your mother.

Yes, to ask her

to bury me next to my father.

Can I be buried in a cemetery?

Yes.

The priest they sent said I could.

Naturally.

Next to my father

is another plot.

It was supposed to be
for my mother.

Ask her to let me have it.

Yes, sir.

Yes, Warden.

The warden asks
if you're finished.

Not yet.

You were saying?

I don't remember.

You were saying
there were three burial plots.

That's right. Three.

My father's there, then Marysia...

and then there's a third spot.

Marysia's been buried there
five years now.

Five years ago
she was run over by a tractor

out where we lived in the country.

She was in sixth grade.

She was...

12 years old.

In sixth grade.

I was with a friend of mine
who drove a tractor.

A buddy of mine.

We'd been drinking.

Wine and vodka.

Then he went and ran her over
in the meadow by the woods.

There was a meadow
next to the woods.

Here in prison l've been thinking...

if she were alive,

maybe l'd never have left home.

Maybe l'd have stayed.

She was my sister.

I had three brothers
but just one sister.

My only sister.

Iwas...

her favorite.

She was my favorite too.

Perhaps everything
would have been different.

But then I had to leave

and join a labor brigade.

I didn't want to leave.

If l'd stayed, maybe -

Maybe it wouldn't
have come to this?

Maybe I wouldn't...

be here now.

The warden and prosecutor
want to know if you're finished.

You tell the prosecutor
l'll never say l'm finished.

You'll never say you're finished?

Never.

We bought the plot

because Marysia loved trees.

She loved green spaces.

That day, she'd gone
to walk in the woods.

Do you have the sentence?

It's all there.

Let's go.

You can leave
your briefcase here.

- Bring him out.
- Yes, sir.

The prosecutor says
to finish up.

Among my things

is a receipt
from a photo shop.

I left a photo to be enlarged,

but I couldn't pick it up.

Could you take it
to my mother?

What's the photo of?

Her First Communion.

I took it from Mother's things
before I left.

It got creased.

Let's go.

Counselor...

I don't want to go.

Please...

Name?

Lazar, Jacek.

Date of birth?

March 17th, 1967.

Parents' first names?

Jan and...

Luqa.

L'll now read the sentence.

"In the name of
the People's Republic of Poland,

this 27th day of April 1987,

afierheafing
the case of Jacek Lazar,

accused of having,

on the 10th of March 1987,
in Warsaw,

assaulted, robbed, and murdered
Waldemar Rykowski,

the court found him guilty,

and in accordance
with Article 148, Paragraph 1,

and Article 44, Paragraph 2,
of the Penal Code,

sentenced him to death

and stripped him
of all civil rights in perpetuity.

The Supreme Court
upheld the sentence.

The State Council rejected
his appeal for clemency.

The sentence
shall therefore be carried out.”

Cigarette?

L'd prefer unfiltered.

His hands!

Carry out the sentence.

Keep going?

Let him go!

Keep going.

Stop!

Directed by

Cinematography by

Production Manager

Music by

Art Direction by

Sound by

Edited by

Digital Restoration by