Two Prosecutors

Play trailer

Two Prosecutors

Now Playing

1h 57m

History

Drama

Play Trailer

Watchlist

Watchlist

Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

97%

Tomatometer

72 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.

Now in Theaters

Now Playing

Buy Tickets

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.

Read Critics Reviews

Marjorie Baumgarten

Austin Chronicle

16h

3.5/5

What’s most startling about the film for me, however, is not the Russian history and filmmaking per se, but the relevance Two Prosecutors has to our present day.

Go to Full Review

Wendy Ide

Observer (UK)

3d

The film is extraordinary: the measured pace exerts an ever-tightening chokehold of tension, and the period details are brilliantly evoked.

Go to Full Review

Randy Myers

San Jose Mercury News

Mar 26

3.5/4

It sheds light on history so we don’t forget it but do learn from it. It’s the work of a true artist.

Go to Full Review

Hilary A White

Irish Independent

16h

5/5

[Two Prosecutors] is the work of someone dissatisfied with tired old lines in history books and adamant to dig deeper to a truth only half revealed.

Go to Full Review

John Dotson

InSession Film

21h

A

For many, the Two Prosecutors’ conclusion will make or break the entire experience. It’s an ending that intentionally frustrates the viewer. However, upon rewatch, the seeds were planted all along.

Go to Full Review

Tom Dawson

Radio Times

2d

4/5

Two Prosecutors is meticulously composed in fixed takes, its claustrophobic style conveying how trapped its characters are within this totalitarian universe.

Go to Full Review

Read all reviews

Barbara

6d

Trenchant and riveting.

See more

Robert M

@Robert11 5d

A really excellent film, full of drama, very well acted and directed. A powerful evocation of what life was like in Stalin's Russia and a warning to us all about the future. This is a must-see film which will be one of the films of the year.

See more

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

Read More

Read Less

WRITE A REVIEW

EDIT REVIEW

POST RATING

Sergei Loznitsa

Director

Aleksandr Kuznetsov

Alexander Kornev

Aleksandr Filippenko

Stepniak

Anatoliy Belyy

Vyshynsky

Andris Keiss

Actor

Vytautas Kaniusonis

Actor

View more photos

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