Decalogue V · reception & legacy

1989 · Krzysztof Kieślowski

How Decalogue V has been received, argued over, and remembered.

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.