Two Prosecutors

The Great Terror in the Soviet Union in the late 1930s under Stalin, also known as the purge of enemies of the people, was intended to prevent counter-revolutions. This meant that any suspicion of alleged actions against the communist dictatorship resulted in state repression. People vanished from the face of the earth, sent to the Gulag – a camp, a camp full of torment. A life in filth in the deepest, darkest labyrinth of the prison. The People’s Commissariat for Internal Affairs, or NKVD for short, was largely responsible for these arrests at the time. They were known to be uncompromising, devious and unscrupulous. The NKVD considered any means justified in order to send as many enemies of the people as possible to the **** film’s story begins right here in this dark place, which few people apart from the authorities and the inmates have ever seen from the depths within. The camera impressively reveals the labyrinthine prison to the audience. The appalling conditions. The people are effectively dead, even though they are not yet truly dead. A young public prosecutor appears on the scene. He wants to intervene in the system. He has a message with him – from a prisoner. Stepaniak, whom he knew from university, has written a message in his own blood – a cry for justice, a desperate plea for help. Kornev is committed to delivering justice and sees the conditions in which the prisoner lives. His wounds bear witness to brutal torment, his body covered in life-threatening bruises. Mentally broken, Stepniak seeks justice for himself. To what extent can the young public prosecutor help him? Is he aware of the immense risk he is taking? He will not be able to stop the NKVD and Stalin’s dictatorship. At the same time, in his quest for justice, he runs the risk of becoming an enemy of the people himself. He then sets off on a long journey to see the chief of police. In the end, he seems to have convinced him that he needs his help. Yet the film ends with the danger that has loomed over him from the very beginning: Kornev’s arrest. Kornev was duped by the very regime he had intended to protect. He merely sought justice, yet it ended in his punishment.With *The Two Prosecutors*, Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa has created a film that uses a specific event to expose the atrocities of the Russian dictatorship. Through this event alone, and the almost astonishingly authentic setting of the Soviet era, the film has a deeply unsettling effect on the audience. The opening sequence and the conversation between Kornev and Stepniak are masterfully conceived. However, the film loses some of its tension after this sequence. The cinematography fails to build on the opening sequence and relies too heavily on close-ups during conversations, which allows the atmosphere to fizzle out.