Sergei Loznitsa’s “Two Prosecutors” Premieres at Cannes: A Timely Warning from History
The 78th Cannes Film Festival welcomed Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa’s powerful new film “Two Prosecutors” on May 14th, delivering a chilling portrayal of Stalinist purges that resonates with alarming relevance today.
Based on the novella by Georgy Demidov—himself a victim of the Soviet regime who spent fourteen years in the Gulag—the film centers on a young Soviet prosecutor caught in the machinery of state terror during the 1930s. With masterful tension and dark irony, Loznitsa crafts what he describes as “a tragedy where there is always a place for the grotesque, and for farce.”
Synopsis
Soviet Union, 1937. Thousands of letters from detainees falsely accused by the regime are burned in a prison cell. Against all odds, one of them reaches its destination, upon the desk of the newly appointed local prosecutor, Alexander Kornyev (Aleksandr Kuznetsov). Kornyev does his utmost to meet the prisoner, a victim of agents of the secret police, the NKVD. A dedicated Bolshevik of integrity, the young prosecutor suspects foul play. His quest for justice will take him all the way to the office of the Attorney General in Moscow.
In the age of the great Stalinist purges, this is the plunge of a man into the corridors of a totalitarian regime that does not bear said name.
A Story 40 Years in the Waiting
The original text has its own remarkable history. Demidov wrote “Two Prosecutors” in 1969, but the manuscript was seized by the KGB in 1980 and only returned in 1988. It wasn’t published until 2009, a four-decade journey from creation to publication that mirrors the suppression its author experienced.
“Over the past thirty years, I have collected quite a substantial library of books by prisoners of the Gulag, as well as of the Nazi camps,” Loznitsa explained in an interview. “When I first heard about the publication of Two Prosecutors, I was fascinated. I read the novella and the story stayed with me.”
More Than Historical Drama
At the film’s press conference following its premiere, Loznitsa emphasized that “Two Prosecutors” isn’t merely about a distant past. “If you think that the lead character is naive, I would invite you to ponder as to what events of present you might look back at in some time and think we were naive,” he challenged journalists.
“Case in point, think about the hopes a lot of people had for the new US President and that he would come with change and end that stupid war in Ukraine,” said Loznitsa at the press conference. “Think about other examples in recent history.”
The film’s international cast brings together actors from across the post-Soviet space—many of whom fled Russia after the 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Shot in a former prison in Riga with an austere visual palette limited to “black, gray, brown, dark blue, white and, in some places, blood red,” the film creates an atmosphere of mounting dread as its idealistic protagonist slowly realizes the true nature of the system he serves.
Ultimately, the story talks about the banality of evil and, with its austere and astute visuals, evokes the imagery of Pasolini’s “Salo, 120 Days of Sodom” (sans the grotesqueness). When asked about this reference after the press conference, Loznitsa had a moment of recognition, but Pasolini’s work didn’t serve as direct inspiration.
The Irony of True Believers
A particularly striking aspect of “Two Prosecutors” is how it portrays the system destroying its most ardent supporters. The main character, Prosecutor Kornyev, represents “the first post-revolutionary generation, brought up in a romantic, idealistic spirit. A fearless and enthusiastic builder of the society of the future, confident in his own righteousness.”
This tragedy of the “True Believer” takes on special significance when embodied by an agent of the state itself. “He cannot even begin to suspect that the world in which he lives is far from ideal,” notes Loznitsa. “Such characters often fell victim of the Soviet regime.”
A Defense of Artistic Freedom
At the press conference, Loznitsa framed his work as a defense of freedom of expression. “It’s our freedom to make films, to have them reviewed and talked about by journalists,” he stated firmly. This commitment to artistic freedom has particular weight coming from a director whose own country continues to fight against Russian aggression.
The director sees cinema as a means of developing new language to describe our complex world. “For a hundred years now, we have been living in the circumstances described by Kafka, Musil, Orwell, Platonov and other great authors of the twentieth century,” he reflects. “But still we seem to expect the arrival of a romantic hero, a savior.”
The Past Speaks to the Present
When asked about the film’s relevance to current global politics, Loznitsa is unequivocal: “These topics will remain relevant as long as there are totalitarian regimes in power anywhere in the world.”
“The temptation to achieve one’s political goals by the simple and ‘effective’ means of violence, can prove to be irresistible to the ruling elites of even the most democratic and seemingly incorruptible countries,” he warns.
As “Two Prosecutors” makes its way through the Cannes competition, it stands as both a meticulously crafted historical drama and an urgent warning about the fragility of democratic values. In Loznitsa’s words: “Every time we say to ourselves, ‘This can’t be happening!’ But then it is happening, in the here and now, and we find ourselves powerless to resist it.”
In a festival already charged with political commentary from jury members and honorees alike, Loznitsa’s film serves as a powerful reminder that cinema’s greatest strength may be its ability to help us see the patterns of history—before we’re doomed to repeat them.
Editor in Chief of Ikon London Magazine, journalist, film producer and founder of The DAFTA Film Awards (The DAFTAs).