Two Prosecutors (Zwei Staatsanwälte)

Set in 1937 during Stalin’s reign of terror, Two Prosecutors tells a fairly simple story of naivety, power and corruption.

A note written in blood has managed to get out of one to the Soviet state’s maximum-security prisons to the local prosecutor’s office. Its highly unusual for anything to get out, as the film shows in the first ten minutes. So the whole prison is surprised when newly appointed Prosecutor Kornev (Alexander Kuznetsov) arrives asking to meet prisoner Stepniak (Aleksandr Filippenko) who is locked in maximum security considered dangerous to the state.

Prison warden and duty assistant’s obfuscation and prevarication don’t daunt the young prosecutor (as they often comment) from his meeting. He eventually meets Stepniak who recounts a horror story of beatings and false confessions that inevitably lead to death. Kornev promises to take the case to the highest level as the local office very likely corrupt. So off to Moscow he goes.

Directed by Sergey Loznitsa, co-written with Georgy Demidov, Two Prosecutors is worthy film with some very fine acting. It is however almost hobbled by the glacial pace and a very dense wordy script. There’s a scene where Kornev falls asleep during a boring story told by a passenger. It’s unfortunate the viewer could relate to him.

That said interest is maintained by a remarkable performance from Kuznetsov who for all his drive for justice and confidence up front, is clearly terrified of what he hears from Stepniak and how the tendrils of the state operate.

The film looks suitably dour with washed out colours and very little camera movement. The actors performing within the frame. The faces and deportment of the prison guards leave no doubt as what the prison regime is like. It’s tempting to think that they were are terrified as the prisoners they keep locked up. One wrong word and who knows where they could end up.

In that respect Loznitsa captures what must have been the terror and paranoia of the time. The ideals of the revolution long corrupted.

Two Prosectors will open in UK and Irish cinemas on 27 March 2026.