Overview
A gripping exploration of morality and choice unfolds as lives intertwine in a city of shadows.
Ember's analysis
- Pacing
- Measured
- Intensity
- Extreme
- Complexity
- Layered
- Violence
- Graphic
- bleak
- oppressive
- austere
- serious film study
- arthouse cinema night
What critics said
Critics broadly regard this installment as a devastating, rigorously controlled moral drama whose treatment of capital punishment is uncompromising and deeply affecting.
What sets it apart
May contain story progression spoilers
The taxi driver's murder and the subsequent legal process connect individual brutality with capital punishment.
The killing and execution are presented with oppressive restraint and disturbing physical specificity.
Piotr Balicki's emergence as a lawyer is tested by his involvement in a capital case.
The Warsaw milieu and bureaucratic legal system frame the characters' isolation and ethical uncertainty.
Films like Decalogue V, and why
Dead Man Walking
shared austere moral drama, institutional critique, and capital punishment subject
The Verdict
shared judicial ethics, existential seriousness, and restrained European art-film tone
A Short Film About Killing
shared bleak crime drama, moral ambiguity, and psychologically disturbing violence
Movie Details
- Director
- Krzysztof Kieślowski
- Release Date
- 1989-09-06
- Runtime
- 57 min
- Rating
- 8.0 / 10 (166)
Cast
- Mirosław Baka
- Krzysztof Globisz
- Jan Tesarz
- Artur Barciś
- Krystyna Janda
- Olgierd Łukaszewicz
- Maciej Szary
- Zbigniew Zapasiewicz
- Zbigniew Borek
- Władysław Byrdy
Common questions
- What is Decalogue V about?
- A young lawyer confronts the moral abyss of murder and capital punishment when his life intersects with a taxi driver and a sinister drifter.
- What is Decalogue V like to watch?
- Ember's analysis rates the pacing of Decalogue V as measured, its intensity as extreme and its storytelling as layered.
- Is Decalogue V violent?
- Yes. Ember rates the violence in Decalogue V as graphic.
- What did critics think of Decalogue V?
- Critics broadly regard this installment as a devastating, rigorously controlled moral drama whose treatment of capital punishment is uncompromising and deeply affecting.
- Which films are like Decalogue V?
- Films with a similar feel include Dead Man Walking, The Verdict, and A Short Film About Killing.
- How long is Decalogue V?
- Decalogue V runs 57 minutes.
