Two Prosecutors

‘'Two Prosecutors'’ is a film by Belarusian director Segei Loznitsa that combines a series of genres: historical judicial drama from the 1930s with a Kafkaesque touch.

It takes us back to the last century, to the territory of the Soviet Union in 1937. Citizens live under the pressure of continuous Stalinist purges. Thousands of prisoners are falsely imprisoned, and with them, thousands of letters are written. However, these letters do not see the light of day; instead, they are burned. Silent screams that hide their existence as if they had never existed.

By a careless mistake, an intact letter ends up on the desk of Alexander Kornyev, an idealistic young local prosecutor. The letter, stained with the author's blood, is a revelation for the newly appointed young man. The citizens' denunciations are not mere slanders; they may actually be based on reality.

Kornyev begins to investigate, leading him to the dark gears of a state apparatus where justice is theater and truth is an attack on order.

His eagerness to visit the author of the letter puts him at odds with the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (NKVD), responsible for state security and, in turn, for political repression and extrajudicial executions.

A work constructed from static camera shots, an almost square format, and a palette composed of grays, browns, and burgundies. The four sides of the screen recreate the feeling of oppression and hopelessness of the plot. Identical walls, endless corridors, and breathless gazes absorb the viewer in an almost suffocating manner.