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Two Prosecutors

Play trailer Poster for Two Prosecutors Mar 2026 1h 57m History Drama Play Trailer Watchlist
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96% Tomatometer 48 Reviews Popcornmeter Fewer than 50 Ratings
The latest film from the great Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy) is a scalpel-precise tale of the horrors of totalitarian bureaucracy. Adapting a novel by Soviet writer and political prisoner Georgy Demidov, set in the Soviet Union in 1937, Loznitsa follows the attempts of an idealistic government-appointed prosecutor (Alexander Kuznetsov) to expose the mistreatment of a dissident Bolshevik writer who has been jailed and tortured without evidence of wrongdoing. As he gradually comes to realize, the lack of cause for the man's imprisonment is hardly unique under Stalin’s regime, and the neophyte lawyer may be putting himself in danger by exposing his own moral righteousness. Loznitsa constructs his story with a patient yet unmistakable sense of mounting dread, focusing on the devastating minutiae that allows fascism to function in our world.
Two Prosecutors

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Anchored by Sergei Loznitsa's impeccable staging and Aleksandr Kuznetsov's haunting performance, Two Prosecutors delivers its chilling portrait of bureaucratic deception and lost idealism with quiet, unsettling power.

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Critics Reviews

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Zachary Barnes Wall Street Journal 12h
If the movie’s just-so fatalism is less than galvanizing, it’s also soberly convincing. With grim history as his guide, Mr. Loznitsa has crafted a compressed yet potent work of cinema. Go to Full Review
Nicolas Rapold New York Times 1d
Violence may be kept largely offscreen in this particular story, but it’s written on the bodies of the broken prisoners. Here, fear lurks behind every other door. Go to Full Review
Philip De Semlyen Time Out 2d
4/5
A slow cinema treat, Two Prosecutors rewards patience, with endless waiting rooms and antechambers both a limbo state and a last-chance saloon for Kornyev. It’s a haunting, mesmerising, pessimistic piece of work. Go to Full Review
Jared Mobarak Hey, Have You Seen ...? 21h
8/10
The film’s progression through bureaucratic black holes and intentional tactics meant to wear down the Soviet Union’s last honorable citizen is thus toeing the line between farce and thriller. We’re watching in a constant state of unease. Go to Full Review
Mark Dujsik Mark Reviews Movies 1d
3/4
[T]here is plenty of tension in Two Prosecutors, which is impressive since the plot itself does amount to so much waiting ... for meetings... Go to Full Review
Olga Artemyeva ScreenAnarchy 2d
Certain moments almost play out as a situational comedy in Two Prosecutors, which only serves to increase the terror it generally evokes. Go to Full Review
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Audience Reviews

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Thomas S @RT53929595 Dec 5 Deux procureurs » en dit long sur la nature humaine, et met en lumière l’une de ces innombrables histoires oubliées. Ces visages de sadiques — où les ont-ils dénichés ? — donnent au film une intensité presque dérangeante. Il y a quelque chose, dans cet univers sombre et implacable, qui résonne profondément en moi. Une œuvre qui marque et qui interroge. See more dlma1 M @dlma1 Nov 5 I saw this film at the AFI Film Festival in Hollywood. From Slovakia, this drama takes place in the USSR of 1937, when a young prosecutor tries to investigate abuse of a loyal party member, who has been unfairly imprisoned. Period recreations of the USSR at the time are very good along with atmosphere of despair that pervaded Russia that the time. A tense drama, but with a predictable conclusion that I saw coming from a mile away. 6/10 See more Read all reviews
Two Prosecutors

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Movie Info

Synopsis The latest film from the great Ukrainian director Sergei Loznitsa (My Joy) is a scalpel-precise tale of the horrors of totalitarian bureaucracy. Adapting a novel by Soviet writer and political prisoner Georgy Demidov, set in the Soviet Union in 1937, Loznitsa follows the attempts of an idealistic government-appointed prosecutor (Alexander Kuznetsov) to expose the mistreatment of a dissident Bolshevik writer who has been jailed and tortured without evidence of wrongdoing. As he gradually comes to realize, the lack of cause for the man's imprisonment is hardly unique under Stalin’s regime, and the neophyte lawyer may be putting himself in danger by exposing his own moral righteousness. Loznitsa constructs his story with a patient yet unmistakable sense of mounting dread, focusing on the devastating minutiae that allows fascism to function in our world.
Director
Sergei Loznitsa
Producer
Kevin Chneiweiss
Screenwriter
Sergei Loznitsa
Distributor
Janus Films
Production Co
Studio Uljana Kim, SBS Productions, LooksFilm, Atoms & Void, White Picture
Genre
History, Drama
Original Language
Russian
Release Date (Theaters)
Mar 20, 2026, Limited
Runtime
1h 57m