If you thought Columbo was dishevelled, compared to Polish homicide detective Helena Rus (Malgorzata Kozuchowska) he is as suave and sophisticated as James Bond. For her gaunt face, straggly mop and listlessness bordering on stiff on a slab suggests a woman who has just booked a one-way ticket to Dignitas.

Which is fitting, for life has lost all meaning since the death of her partner who was mowed down by a drunk driver. A fraught existence exacerbated by a surly youth whose blunt request for a gang bang in the opening exchange exemplifies writer and director Patryk Vega’s trademark gallows humour which was used to great effect in his previous thriller Botoks.

Plagi Breslau (Plagues of Breslau) may not hit the same giddy heights, but its whiplash pace and perpetual plot twists propelled by the mysterious killer’s policy of a death a day at 6pm makes for a rollicking ride. One which would have been bumpier if it were not for Kozuchowska’s sterling performance and the sledgehammer one-liners such as the coroner’s droll description of a decapitated victim: “Somebody is totally f****d in the head.”

Based upon the medieval history of the city which was cleared of “degenerates” to make way for a cosmopolitan elite, the actions of the “very precise psycho” might be bloody and gory (limbs ripped asunder and burning at the stake), but the killer’s motive is as clear as the words branded onto the writhing bodies of each helpless victim who were targeted because they abused their positions of power: “to bring justice against those who deserve it”.

Similar to the creators of Columbo who revealed the identity of the murderers at the beginning of each episode, Vega wrong-foots us halfway through to shift focus from the entertaining cat and mouse chase to shine a light on the corruption at the heart of politics, unscrupulous employers and greedy loan sharks. The moral being, as articulated by the killer, that we can no longer rely on our masters to keep law and order.

Director: Patryk Vega
Writer: Patryk Vega
Stars: Karol Bedorf, Jacek Beler, Iwona Bielska
Peter Callaghan
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