Two Prosecutors

The latest film from the great Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy) is a scalpel-precise tale of the horrors of totalitarian bureaucracy. Adapting a novel by Soviet writer and political prisoner Georgy Demidov, set in the Soviet Union in 1937, Loznitsa follows the attempts of an idealistic government-appointed prosecutor (Alexander Kuznetsov) to expose the mistreatment of a dissident Bolshevik writer who has been jailed and tortured without evidence of wrongdoing. As he gradually comes to realize, the lack of cause for the man’s imprisonment is hardly unique under Stalin’s regime, and the neophyte lawyer may be putting himself in danger by exposing his own moral righteousness. Loznitsa constructs his story with a patient yet unmistakable sense of mounting dread, focusing on the devastating minutiae that allows fascism to function in our world.

“Set in the Stalinist purges in the Soviet Union in the 1937, though clearly as much about Putin’s Russia as Stalin’s… Loznitsa holds you rapt with brutal faces, restless camera work, meticulous filmmaking, shivers of bitter wit, and scenes of characters just talking that set your heart to racing. This is the kind of international title that enriches American moviegoing life.”
– Manohla Dargis, The New York Times

“One of [Loznitsa’s] most accessible films to date, with relevance to every country wrestling with authoritarian political parties right now.”
– Damon Wise, Deadline

“A darkly absurdist odyssey through the Soviet totalitarian nightmare.”
– Jessica Kiang, Variety

“The effectiveness and subtle suspense of Loznitsa’s visuals are matched by the chamber-piece intensity of the characters’ verbal face-offs, dense with specialist jargon and gallows humor, and not giving a damn if you can’t keep up.”
– David Katz, IndieWire

“[A] crisply made shaggy dog story, with its bleak sense of humor, somehow felt like the movie of the moment… a bleak shout of futility that’s also strangely, bitterly funny.”
– Stephanie Zacharek, TIME (“The 12 Best Movies of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival”)