Sightlines · reception
How Decalogue V was received
1989 · Krzysztof Kieślowski · Decalogue V on Sightlines
The arc
Aired as one hour of Polish TV in 1989, but its expanded theatrical twin *A Short Film About Killing* had already stunned Cannes in 1988 (Jury Prize) and won the very first European Film Award — today the whole Decalogue routinely lands on greatest-ever lists, with V and VI singled out as the peaks.
What’s debated
The eternal cinephile dilemma: do you watch the lean TV Decalogue V or the longer, harsher *A Short Film About Killing* — and does one dilute the other?
Its footprint
Stanley Kubrick, in his foreword to the published Decalogue screenplays, said Kieślowski and Piesiewicz had the rare ability to *dramatize* ideas rather than talk about them — a blurb cinephiles have quoted ever since; the film is also widely credited with feeding Poland's late-'80s debate over capital punishment.
Where it stands
A 'you must see this' pillar of the Decalogue — the episode people point to when arguing the series is the greatest thing ever made for television.
Did you know? Cinematographer Sławomir Idziak disliked the script and proposed shooting through sickly green filters half-expecting Kieślowski to refuse — instead Kieślowski agreed, and the bilious, smeared look became the film's signature.