In 1937, a young prosecutor (Aleksandr Kuznetsov) suspects corruption within the local NKVD in Bryansk and tries to interrogate an elderly political prisoner.

Based on a short story written by a man who knew what it was like living under Stalin’s Great Purge, this film aims to capture the dread of the era as a naive young man thinks he’s actually serving Stalin by informing the powers-that-be of local authorities torturing men once seen as loyal to the party.

Unfortunately, this is a very slow, talky journey to an inevitable conclusion.

2025-France-Germany-Romania-Latvia-The Netherlands-Lithuania. 117 min. Color. Written and directed by Sergei Loznitsa. Novella: Georgy Demidov. Cast: Aleksandr Kuznetsov (Kornyev), Aleksandr Filippenko (Stepniak), Anatoliy Beliy (Andrey Vyshinsky), Andris Keiss, Vytautas Kanisonis, Valentin Novopolskij.

Trivia: French title: Deux procureurs. German title: Zwei Staatsanwälte.