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2w ago

Sergei Loznitsa’s 'Two Prosecutors' Premieres at Cannes, Tackling Stalin-Era Repression and Modern Authoritarianism

The Ukrainian filmmaker's first fiction feature in nearly a decade draws parallels between Stalin’s Great Purge and contemporary political climates in Russia and the U.S.

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Overview

  • ‘Two Prosecutors’ debuted in competition at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14, marking Sergei Loznitsa’s return to fiction filmmaking after nearly a decade.
  • The film adapts Georgy Demidov’s 1969 novella, which was seized by the KGB and only published in 2009, offering a stark portrayal of Stalin's 1937 Great Purge.
  • Through the story of an idealistic prosecutor confronting systemic injustice, Loznitsa warns of parallels between Stalinist repression and modern authoritarian trends under Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
  • Critics have praised the film’s austere direction, historical resonance, and its chilling depiction of the dehumanizing bureaucracy of totalitarian regimes.
  • Loznitsa remains a controversial figure in Ukraine after his 2022 expulsion from the national Film Academy for opposing Russian film boycotts, despite his vocal condemnation of Russian aggression.