Sally Duff-Decalogue

In the second episode of Decalogue, Kieslowski examined the commandment “Thou shall not kill.”  He started with an obvious murder.  The boy killed a man, there was not spite or vengance or self defense involved.  He merely killed to kill.  But the movie goes on to provide commentary on capital punishment.  It illustrated that the death penalty was just as cruel and just as clearly murder and what the boy had done.  If anything, it was more cruel.  The boy suffered more and much longer than the man ever did.  It was much less humane.  The film used feeling to really prove their point.  At the beginning of the film, there is no attachment to the boy, he is shown as derranged and crude.  But by the end, the audience sides with him.  The audience wants justice, but not this way.  This doesn’t seem right.  It doesn’t even seem fair.