| Errors | Missing | Unverified | Supported |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
Counts based on original analysis categories (not yet classified).
Errors = Critical Errors + Imprecisions
Missing = Critical Omissions + Notable Gaps
In Krzysztof Kieślowski's Decalogue V (and its feature-length version, A Short Film About Killing), the irony and tragedy of the plot stem from the fact that the three main characters do not know each other prior to the events of the film. Their lives intersect entirely through chance and the "fate" of a single day in Warsaw.
The three men are:
Jacek and Waldemar (Stranger/Victim): Jacek and Waldemar are complete strangers. Jacek decides to commit a murder and wanders the city looking for a victim. He eventually goes to a taxi stand where Waldemar happens to be working. Waldemar had earlier refused to pick up several other potential passengers (including a couple seen in Decalogue II), but he accepts Jacek's fare. Jacek chooses him not because of a personal grudge, but because Waldemar's taxi is the one he happens to board.
Piotr and Jacek (Lawyer/Client): Their relationship begins only after the murder, when Piotr is assigned as Jacek's defense attorney for his first case. However, there is a haunting "near-miss" connection: Piotr later realizes that he and Jacek were in the same café at the same time on the day of the murder. While Piotr was celebrating passing his exams, Jacek was at a nearby table preparing the rope he would use to kill the driver. They did not interact, but the realization that they occupied the same space at a pivotal moment torments Piotr, leading him to wonder if he could have recognized Jacek's distress and prevented the tragedy.
Piotr and Waldemar (Indirect): There is no personal connection between the lawyer and the victim. They are linked only through Jacek’s crime and the legal system that follows it.
Kieślowski uses these three characters to explore the idea of "accidental outcomes." While they are strangers, their lives become inextricably linked: one man dies at the hands of another, and the third is forced to participate in the state-sanctioned execution of the first. The film emphasizes that despite being strangers, they share a common humanity that is ignored by both the random violence of the murder and the cold bureaucracy of the law.
No oversights detected.
The main characters in Decalogue V (Jacek, Waldemar, and Piotr) do not know each other prior to the events of the film. They are strangers whose lives intersect through chance and fate. Jacek selects Waldemar as his victim randomly after wandering the city. Piotr becomes Jacek's lawyer only after the murder. A key ironic detail is that Piotr and Jacek were physically present in the same café earlier that day—Piotr celebrating his exam results and Jacek preparing his murder weapon—but they did not interact or know each other at the time.