Scene from the film The Last Judgement
Scene from the film The Last Judgement

The Last Judgement

Direction
Year 
1987
Country
  • Latvia
Duration
69min 
Audio Tracks 
Subtitles 

Relentlessly, Herz Frank confronts the spectator with the moral problems involved in the death penalty. In The Last Judgment he enters into a dialogue with Valerij Dolgov, a man who has been sentenced to death for having committed a double murder. He does not give an inexhaustible enumeration of motives that could have led up to the killing. Frank sketches a picture of Dolgov's past in which a loveless youth, an exceptionally strong desire for leadership, a very ambitious nature and his involvement in the black market have given shape to his character. Frank is not so much interested in the murder-case on its own as he is in the human being that, as a consequence, finds itself in an inhuman situation. The photography unscrupulously fixes Dolgov's position: the camera hardly ever lets go of the prisoner who is trying to find out the reason for his act. The deeply human doubts, emotions and utterances of the man under sentence of death in their turn grasp the viewers. Herz Frank and Valerij Dolgov force us, in the first place, to decide on what stand to take in the discussion on capital punishment and, in the second place, to reflect on the meaning of the notions of being a human and humanity. IDFA

Details

DAFilms.com is powered by Doc Alliance, a creative partnership of 7 key European documentary film festivals. Our aim is to advance the documentary genre, support its diversity and promote quality creative documentary films.

Doc Alliance Members

Join to get regular updates on our film program:

By sending the registration for the Newsletter, I consent to receiving commercial communications through electronic means and to related personal data processing required for the purposes of sending the Newsletter of Doc-Air Distribution s.r.o. I confirm having read the Principles of Personal Data Processing, understanding the text and consenting to the same, while I acknowledge the rights specified herein, including, without limitation, the right to submit objections against direct marketing techniques.

Poslat svému Junioru

Zavřít