In Two Prosecutors, Sergey Loznitsa tells a story of the struggle for justice in the Soviet Union in 1937. In a prison in Bryansk, all communication between political prisoners and the outside world is strictly forbidden. Yet a plea for help, scrawled in blood on a scrap of paper by one of the inmates, finds its way to the desk of Kornyev, a young and idealistic prosecutor recently assigned to the region. During his visit to the prison, Kornyev discovers that the detainees, who are brutally tortured, have been forced to confess to crimes they did not commit or to give false testimonies against others. Determined to end this injustice, he realizes he must first find another prosecutor as idealistic as himself.

Known for his work in both documentary and fiction, Ukrainian director Loznitsa delivers in Two Prosecutors a thoroughly classical piece of cinema. Set largely indoors, the film has a theatrical feel, and evokes an acute sense of realism by paying close attention to period detail. Film critic Damon Wise describes the film as “a bleak warning from history”.