Jacek, an angry drifter, murders a taxi driver brutally and without motive. His case is assigned to Piotr, an idealistic young lawyer who is morally opposed to the death penalty, and their interactions take on an emotional honesty that throws into stark relief, for Piotr, the injustice of killing.

Krzysztof Kieślowski’s extended take on the fifth episode of his TV series Dekalog was a stunning success at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. A staggering and existential portrayal of both victim and perpetrator that sets out to explore the origins and manifestations of evil in late-Communist Poland.