Jestem mordercą

Again a young woman is murdered, this time the niece of a regional party secretary in Katowice. A young superintendent is appointed head of a hitherto ineffective investigative team. “Communism is as red as blood” writes the killer, as he announces his intention to commit 30 murders, one for every year that the Polish United Workers’ Party has governed the country. The superintendent establishes the identity of a suspect, who is arrested and charged; subsequently those behind the investigation are showered with praise. Dubious as the evidence might be the superintendent is reluctant to lose his privileged status in society, with the flat and color TV, as a result of which he proceeds to coerce the necessary evidence from the suspect.

Maciej Pieprzyca's psychologically nuanced reconstruction of a genuine case from the seventies takes on a number of twists and turns in a tale that serves as a mirror image of a society shaped by pressure to succeed, conformity and widespread corruption. WMH