Two Prosecutors (2025) Movie Script
This is your new brigade.
Some brigade!
They need three assistants each:
two to hold them up,
the third to move their legs.
Wake up!
These are the papers
the commander wants burned.
He's the one who's going to do it.
Do you have a cell that locks securely?
They all lock securely.
New locks.
Come on, take him.
Come on, move!
What's in the bag?
All the prison's secrets?
Or last year's construction
estimates?
None of your business,
you just have to burn it.
Got it?
Got it.
Get in.
You burn everything in this bag
in that stove.
And no funny business: you keep nothing.
Otherwise, it's a guaranteed month in the hole.
Got it?
Matches.
Here. That's enough for you.
You'll give me the box back.
Close it.
What is he in for?
S.H.E.
Well now! "Socially Harmful Element"?
And I thought he was
a lumberyard guard
who had a dirty trick
played on him by thieves. Wow!
Maybe he was
a madam in a brothel.
"Dear Comrade Stalin,
"My name is Smirnov,
"Ivan Sergeyevich,
"a member of the Bolshevik party
since before the Revolution.
"I am falsely accused of belonging
to the Trotskyist-Bukharinist bloc
"and confessions are being extorted from me
"during violent interrogations..."
"Dearest guide,
Comrade Stalin, we, the Pestrukhin
"brothers,
"kolkhoz workers,
former Red Army guards,
"are accused... of corrupting
"the Soviet state... extorting
"confessions under torture..."
What monsters! "We are devoted
"to the cause of the Communist Party
and have shed our blood...
"have shed our blood for it..."
Have shed our blood for it.
"Factory director...
"falsely accused...
"under torture...
"no strength left to bear...
"beg you to intervene...
"justice...
"communist."
Communist justice.
Communist... Justice.
BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
"I request the representative of the prosecutor's office
"to visit me in my cell
"to communicate
vital information.
"Stepnyak, I.S."
You have to knock.
What do you want?
We're going to the boss.
Open up.
He's here to see the commander.
Come in.
Hello.
Hello.
Have a seat, Comrade Prosecutor.
I'm listening.
You have a prisoner here
named Ivan Stepnyak.
The prosecutor's office has received
a request for a visit from him.
Wow!
But we have tens of thousands
of inmates here.
Do you have the building number,
or the cell of this...
Ivan Stepnyak.
Yes: building 5, cell 84.
The Special Block?
You received a request
from the Special Block?
Yes, why?
No, just asking.
For no reason.
Excuse me.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
I don't know, ask Petrovich.
Again?
Put them in building 1.
No, not yet interrogated.
Yes.
I understand.
Alright.
Young man,
issuing a pass
to see an inmate
under the jurisdiction
of the Regional NKVD Directorate
can only be obtained
from the prison director.
I'm sorry,
but you'll have to come back
or wait for his return.
Will it be long?
Many meetings
take place at the directorate
regarding inmate assignments.
They usually last a long time.
I will wait.
Can I wait here?
Of course.
Especially since I have to go
to a building right now.
They are all overcrowded,
hence a massive amount of work.
So...
Don't be upset
that I'm leaving you alone here.
It's just the job.
Make yourself comfortable.
Thank you.
Open up.
Yes!
Do you know what Radek answered
in prison to:
"What were you doing
before the Revolution?"
No.
"I was waiting in prison."
And to the question:
"And after the Revolution?"
No.
"Prison was waiting for me."
So, what is it?
I have a young guy here
from the prosecutor's inspection office.
Have they already appointed the new one?
And?
He wants to see the inmate
in cell 84 of the SB.
Stepnyak?
How does he know
he's in that cell?
No idea.
Petrovich,
I have the new inspector
from the prosecutor's office here.
Yeah, they didn't waste time.
A young guy.
He wants to see an inmate
from the Special Block.
Alright.
Alright.
And if he insists?
Alright.
Did you hear what Radek said?
Yes, of course, I will send you a report.
Let him stew for a bit.
If he's still there by tonight,
bring him to me.
Very well.
"Prison was waiting for him!"
Don't just stand there, go work.
Come on, get to work!
Is the deputy not here?
No.
Where is he?
He had things to do.
And who are you?
I am a prosecutor.
And to whom do I have the honor?
It doesn't matter.
Well?
The director is expecting you.
Open up.
Yes?
He's here.
Come in, please.
Sorry to have kept you waiting,
but I was held up by my superiors.
We live in difficult times,
as you are well aware.
Please, have a seat.
Pleased to meet you.
We are used to seeing older people
in this position,
but times are changing
and our ideas
about what young people can do
are obsolete.
Let's just say the whole state apparatus
is undergoing a rejuvenation.
And where do we stand with the request
I submitted?
You were undoubtedly informed of it.
Yes, of course, I was informed.
But, you see,
I think your meeting
with the inmate
should be postponed
to better days.
For what reason?
Actually,
given the overcrowding
of this prison
- which you cannot be unaware of -,
it is sometimes impossible
to respect sanitary standards.
Hence frequent outbreaks
of infectious diseases:
diphtheria, typhoid,
and sometimes even typhus.
Which is particularly severe
in the unfortunate building 5,
which we call among ourselves
the Special Block,
because that is where the convicts
for counter-revolutionary activities are held.
And it is precisely among them
that a medley of infectious diseases
proliferates.
I strongly advise against
even taking a single look in there
for anyone
whose duties do not require it.
But doing what my duties require
is exactly why I am here.
Yes, of course.
What I meant to say was that...
If a guard, for example,
cannot miss his shift,
a prosecutor, conversely,
can completely postpone
an interview with an inmate.
Without it affecting
the substance of the case.
But if I strongly advise against it,
it is because this inmate
that Comrade Kornev wants to see
is likely, according to the doctors,
to be a carrier of one of these diseases.
In that case, this inmate should be
transferred to the prison hospital.
That is necessary
if the inmate shares his cell.
But Stepnyak,
this dangerous state criminal,
is alone in his cell.
This kind of patient,
if it is not essential
to place him under medical observation
or to operate on him,
is generally treated in his cell.
Until disinfection,
especially in the case of a contagious disease,
it's better if only those
whose job requires it enter.
I have already spoken with the chief medical officer
about transferring the inmate to the visiting room
where lawyers go, but...
he opposes it.
Such a transfer
would go against sanitary rules
and would be highly detrimental
to the patient.
What disease is Stepnyak suffering from?
The doctors are not yet sure,
but it's intestinal.
Perhaps typhoid.
Typhoid?
But that's not so serious.
I don't intend to shake his hand
or eat from his bowl.
So you insist on seeing
immediately
inmate Stepnyak?
Yes, I insist.
SB 5, in my office immediately.
You have just been appointed?
Yes, three months ago.
Do you know where your predecessor is?
Yes!
Take Comrade...
Kornev.
Kornev, Prosecutor Kornev
to the inmate in cell 84.
Take Comrade Prosecutor
to inmate Stepnyak,
cell 84.
We must strictly comply
with the demands
of the prosecutor's inspection office.
I am delighted
that our new prosecutor
is such a tenacious
young man.
But I deplore
your lack of precaution.
There are diseases
where water and soap are of no help.
What do you mean?
Just this.
That one must never forget
the danger of contagion.
I'll do my best.
Good.
He is with me.
He is with me.
Open 84 for us.
Order from the prison director.
The prosecutor wants to see Stepnyak.
His name?
Kornev.
First names?
Alexander Mikhailovich.
Open up.
Citizen Stepnyak,
the prosecutor is here
to speak with you.
Show me
your professional ID, Citizen...
Prosecutor.
You don't trust
a representative of authority?
It's you
that I don't trust.
The inmate has the right to demand that from me.
Give the order to lower the bunk
so we can sit down.
Lower it, please.
And now,
tell them to leave us.
I will not speak
in the presence of a third party.
I am not a third party.
The regulations oblige me
to supervise the inmate.
You can do so through the peephole.
I don't intend
to attack the prosecutor.
But I insist
on the secrecy of our conversation.
It is my right.
Leave us, please,
it is his right.
Leave us.
I can barely stand.
I am here following this request.
Is this yours?
Yes...
I must have broken
the joint of my hand
on that piece of iron.
There is nothing sharp here.
Before making yourself bleed,
you must have asked for something to write with?
Yes...
but they refuse.
Allow me to ask you
how this request got out of here.
If it's your secret, don't answer.
What secret?
I gave it to the guard,
as they say, by the grace of God,
and it...
Good heavens!
It left these walls.
Are you really from the prosecutor's office?
I showed you my ID.
The investigation department
of the Regional NKVD Directorate
can manufacture anything!
Perhaps this document
will dispel your distrust.
So you studied law.
Are you a graduate?
Yes. For three months.
And how did you get to the prosecutor's office?
I was assigned there.
That means that, at the prosecutor's office,
our famous organs
have done a good job,
if, in positions like that,
it's rookies like you
that they're assigning.
Ivan Stepanovich...
Last year, for the 100th anniversary,
you gave a speech.
Yes...
Indeed,
I came to the university.
And so?
You said
that Soviet legality
was part of the Bolshevik truth.
And that we, future jurists,
must fight for this truth.
I was all ears
and I understood that it wasn't
just a pretty phrase.
You understood well.
That was exactly it.
We tore each other apart for it,
for this truth
of the workers and peasants,
with the White Russians.
Either we hid in pillboxes
under their fire,
or the gallows
awaited us.
But, today,
does the fight for Soviet legality
no longer entail any dangers?
My boy, you don't seem
stupid at all to me.
And since you're not stupid
and you came here,
it also means you are honest
and not a coward.
Are you married, by any chance?
No.
Do you still have your father and mother?
No, they are dead.
Then listen carefully
to what I am going to tell you.
But look first
at what the NKVD did to me.
Don't open your eyes too wide.
It's better if the other guy behind the door
doesn't see this.
There you go, kid.
Did you see what I'm spitting?
My urine is red too.
It was the same, during the Revolution.
One day, rich peasants
beat me up badly.
Except I was young at the time,
all curly-haired.
I recovered from it.
Whereas now,
if they add more to it,
I won't recover.
Besides, it wouldn't serve any purpose anymore.
What did you do to suffer this?
Not "what", but "why".
I'm the kind of guy
who's not easy to deal with.
I refuse for myself
as well as for other innocent people
to sign death sentences.
And yet, that's the only thing
they want from me...
these devious fascists from the NKVD.
The building dedicated to the investigation
and the internal prison
have become an immense dungeon.
Thousands of innocent people
are subjected to unimaginable...
beatings,
to the torture of being deprived
of food, of sleep,
just so they sign
false statements
against themselves
and against others.
Honest people declare themselves guilty
of crimes
that are beyond their comprehension,
and the cases go to the courts
which act on orders from this same NKVD.
They are particularly cruel
with the old Party members.
In our region, they have massacred
almost all the local cadres.
I think I am the last...
member of the Regional Committee
who is still
in this world.
And it's just because I am
more stubborn than the old members
and because I haven't signed anything.
They wanted me to sign that,
during the war with the Germans,
I was a secret agent for Petliura.
Except shooting their victim
without having obtained from them
the confession of these invented crimes,
the local fascists cannot do.
People must
slander themselves.
Obviously,
it's important for the reports
to the governing bodies.
"See how our vigilance
"allows us to nip in the bud
sedition in our own house!"
They are afraid of revelations.
And try to make everything happen
as the law requires.
Beating a stubborn suspect
to death,
costs them nothing,
these NKVD executioners,
but to them it's
an unfortunate blunder.
That's why people like me,
they put them in a glass case
hoping that these people
with crushed innards
won't last long.
When I die, it will be written
that it is of course due
to heart failure
in this very prison.
They are the enemies of the people,
these NKVD saboteurs.
They don't damage machine tools,
nor do they set fire to factories.
But the old leaders
devoted to the Party,
they replace them
with young, loud-mouthed careerists.
And honest and conscientious
specialists
with narrow-minded ignoramuses.
It's not for me
that I'm asking you this.
I'm done for, anyway.
But the cause of our Revolution
torments me to the core.
If you are truly
a true Bolshevik
not a coward,
and an honest Soviet jurist,
leave immediately for Moscow
and get an audience with Stalin.
If you can't manage that,
go find any member
of the Politburo:
Yezhov, Voroshilov,
Molotov...
And tell them that, here,
the cream of the Party is being exterminated.
Hundreds of thousands
of honest Soviet citizens!
And don't dawdle.
You managed to get
this meeting with me and...
they are not going to leave you in peace.
You won't even have time
to turn around
before you yourself
will similarly end up in the clink.
Open up.
He left.
He'll be at your place soon.
Wait.
Yes.
This work, it has to be done beforehand,
not after the fact.
We're training little morons.
After the battle,
in 1916, the one at Kovel,
my good sir,
they amputated my arm and my leg.
Back then, there was nothing set up
for the wounded.
The small allowance for invalids
came much later.
So I tell myself, I need a job,
except I only have my left hand.
I went to find my father.
He tells me:
"I don't have enough to feed you."
Can you imagine?
I wandered around for a good year
and I decided
to go to St. Petersburg,
my good sir,
to ask Lenin if there might be a way
to benefit from proletarian charity,
seeing as we can still say
that I shed my blood,
that I sacrificed my life.
And did Lenin give you charity?
Wait, don't go too fast.
The young man has knowledge,
we have to proceed in order.
Anyway, finally, from convoys
to government wagons,
I ended up arriving,
my good sir,
in St. Petersburg.
Can you imagine the sight?
A grunt covered in lice
who finds himself in the capital,
which has, if I may say so,
no equal in the world.
Suddenly, before him,
Nevsky Prospect, can you imagine,
Pea Street, doggone it,
and Foundry Street,
the Admiralty spire.
The bridges are open,
straight up, without touching.
A real Scheherazade tale,
my good sir.
Stop it, you one-armed man!
You, maybe you've already seen it all,
but the kid hasn't even
set foot there yet.
Maybe he hasn't even touched a chick.
Huh?
I start looking for housing,
except it's unaffordable.
Now, me,
my entire fortune,
is just
10 poor 5-ruble assignats.
I ended up going to the Revel hotel
at 1 ruble a day.
Cabbage soup and beaten meat.
I tell myself I won't get far like this.
I ask where to go.
I'm told: "Go to Smolny, then,
"go see Lenin directly,
"at the very heart of Soviet power.
"That's where it is,
true justice."
Who is the idiot
- who led you to believe that?
- Shut up, you complete ass.
Listen instead. Up at the crack of dawn,
I scraped my beard off
with my left hand,
- because paying a barber is also,
in its own way, spending money -,
I put on my little uniform
and, with my little wooden leg,
off I go!
Do you get the picture?
I'm going to see Lenin
at Smolny.
And there! Mirrors, vases,
all-white ceilings,
columns, priceless marbles,
and people running everywhere.
They let me in with difficulty
and tell me to fend for myself.
I struggle like a devil.
Everyone has seen Lenin,
but nobody knows where he is.
I end up turning up with my wooden leg
in an antechamber,
I stick myself in a corner
so as not to knock over
America or India
in golden earthenware vases.
I must have stayed there
a good four hours
and, finally, an aide-de-camp
or a duty officer
comes out and says:
"Lenin is coming to the antechamber!"
The antechamber is more packed than ever.
They are all decorated and smoking
some nasty tobacco. Running everywhere.
We hear shush-shush!
And suddenly!...
A dead silence settles in.
Lenin arrives.
And so?
Can you imagine?
The statesman himself.
In person, if I may say so,
with the title that goes with it
and that expression, you understand.
Everyone there is standing straight
as an arrow, trembling as they wait
for a decision that, in its own way,
will seal their fates.
He approaches one,
then another.
"Why are you here?"
"And you, what brings you?"
And he approaches me.
I gather my strength:
"Here, Your Excellency,
"Guide of the Revolution,
"I shed my blood,
I lost an arm and a leg.
"I can't work
and ask for the monarch's charity."
Lenin's gaze pierces through me,
he sees my wooden leg,
my right sleeve pinned to the uniform.
"Well," he says,
"come back in a few days.
"We are always delighted
to receive the proletariat,
"even without an arm or a leg."
- No kidding!
- That's right!
That's what he said.
Yes...
"Come back then, my friend."
Then, I tell myself: "It's good,
"It's settled."
And then?
What, then?
What happened then?
Well, nothing.
What do you mean, nothing?
You seem to have been around the block,
you've even left all your teeth there,
but you don't understand a damn thing.
And Lenin, then?
Disappeared, Lenin!
I go back there once, twice,
and it's always the same old song:
"Tomorrow, tomorrow."
I got sick of it.
I made a hell of a racket,
I yelled, insulted!
And then, emerging from the cloud of tobacco,
a messenger arrives.
A two-meter colossus
with huge arms
like those of a carter
or a dentist.
He grabs me, poor wretch,
sticks me in a cart
and straight to the clink.
I lived at the State's expense
for a little while and they let me go.
Lenin had died in the meantime.
Now, I'm going to see Stalin.
Yes, it seems
he is the incarnation of goodness.
Because it's not for me
that, in a sense, I shed
my blood and sacrificed my life.
But you
who have knowledge, tell me:
do you think he's going to compensate me?
Huh?
Are you in line?
Young man,
are you looking for someone?
Yes.
Who?
The Prosecutor General.
I have business with him.
If that's the case,
you must know where his office is.
Yes?
Excuse me?
I'm looking for the exit. Where is it?
Down the stairs on the left.
Are you alright?
Yes.
I find that improper.
My dear friend!
You're here too! Congratulations!
I congratulate you!
I always believed in you
and always thought you'd go far!
You're really an ace!
And you've grown so much!
In every sense of the word,
obviously!
Do we know each other?
Let me introduce you:
Comrade Mrazovich.
And we studied together
and he has risen in the ranks.
Mrazovich.
Kornev.
That's right, Kornev, an artist,
a hell of an artist, even!
- Come see me.
- Alright.
He's not just anybody.
Go see him, if you have a problem.
When were you transferred? What department?
- I...
- I imagine, not in mine.
What are you here for,
if it's not a secret?
Excuse me,
but have we met somewhere?
Kornev, stop playing the fool.
Come see me later.
Office 312. Walk in without knocking.
Alright.
Yes, I'm listening.
Hello,
I've come to see the Prosecutor General.
Do you have an audience?
No.
Actually, Comrade Kornev,
the Prosecutor General only receives
by summons
from the Prosecutor General's Office.
So I cannot do anything
for you.
I've come from far away for a state matter
of the utmost importance.
Everyone who is here
is too.
Do you have a mission order?
No.
But...
it really is vital.
If that's the case,
why hasn't the prosecutor's office
Comrade Kornev reports to
requested an audience
with the Prosecutor General?
And why doesn't Comrade Kornev
have a mission order
stating that he must go
to the Prosecutor General's Office?
I can't even put you
on the list
of people with a doubtful request
which the Prosecutor General alone judges.
I am a Party member
and I come to inform the Prosecutor General
of a vital matter
of extreme urgency.
Furthermore, I must see him alone,
face to face.
Impossible to record this in writing,
as you suggest.
It is in your interest
to take this seriously.
- Thank you.
- Goodbye.
Please.
- Come in.
- Thank you.
Very well.
I will speak to the Prosecutor General
and inform you of his decision.
Wait in the antechamber,
please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
Comrade Zavtrakin!
Please.
Come in, please.
- Thank you, goodbye.
- Goodbye.
Comrade Smirnov!
You are lucky.
Comrade Prosecutor General,
against all odds,
agrees to see you.
But remember
that this is one of the busiest people
in the state.
You must therefore be very concise
and not waste the Comrade
Prosecutor General's time.
Two-three minutes, no more.
I'm listening.
My name is Kornev.
I am a prosecutor at the Bryansk prosecutor's office,
in charge of inspecting
places of detention.
There I have established
the commission of violations
of socialist legality
by the Directorate
of State Security
during the investigation
of counter-revolutionary crimes
as well as violations
of detention rules
for prisoners suspected of such crimes.
Continue.
I have been informed of beatings,
numerous and cruel,
of an inmate
during interrogations carried out
by the Regional NKVD Directorate.
There is every reason to believe that
such beatings
and other illegal methods
during the investigation
conducted by this Directorate
are of a systematic nature.
As indirect proof, I cite
the deprivation of inmates
in the region's political prisons
of the possibility to complain
to the appropriate authorities.
This is perhaps
the only request that has reached
the prosecutor's office from the political section
of the municipal prison.
The material this complaint is on
and what was used to write it
speak for themselves.
BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
And why inform me
of these violations
and not the regional prosecutor?
Because I do not believe
in the determination
of the regional prosecutor's office to interfere
in the affairs of the local NKVD.
I fear, moreover, that this prosecutor's office
would neither want nor even be able
to defend a collaborator,
who had tried to interfere in this way,
from reprisals.
Obtaining the prosecutor's approval
to arrest an undesirable person
has become in our region
a pure formality.
And therefore, going to my superior
was for me
not only practically useless,
but would have been almost suicidal.
And I decided
to turn to you as a
state official, but above all
as an honest Party member.
And, in your opinion, with what purpose
are the violations committed
that you suspect in your region?
Comrade Vyshinsky,
I am sure that,
at the regional NKVD,
a group of counter-revolutionaries
is operating
pretending to be Stalinist Chekists.
Abusing their position,
they exterminate the best people
by accusing them of imaginary crimes.
They thus undermine
the local economy,
the administrative management
and discredit Soviet legality
in the eyes of the people.
The governing bodies
of the whole region
are destabilized and terrified
by these criminals.
Especially the officials
of the prosecutor's office and the courts.
I don't exclude that some,
perhaps against their will,
are executing their instructions.
Yet, anyone who could
expose
the devious malice of the acts
of the regional security organs
is preventively arrested
and, in large part,
no doubt already eliminated.
The devoted Party cadres
are replaced
by incompetent youths,
but loyal to the NKVD.
And, if one of them discovers
an incongruity,
they prefer to act
as if nothing had happened:
"Forget us and we'll forget you."
A true system,
Comrade Vyshinsky.
Perhaps some opportunists
have been circumvented
by their ascent
due neither to their skills
nor to their experience.
I could have followed their example,
but I am prevented from doing so
by my conscience as a Soviet citizen,
as a Party member
and as a Soviet jurist.
I cannot remain inactive
before crimes
committed massively
and relentlessly.
The intervention of the Prosecutor General's Office
must stop them.
I think
that it's a destructive process
that must stop immediately.
So you want the Prosecutor General's Office
to launch an investigation,
at once,
into the counter-revolutionary activity
of the security organs
in your region, is that right?
Exactly, Comrade Vyshinsky.
That could be possible
if it were a private individual
or some state authority.
But this Commissariat
for Internal Affairs has, today,
special powers
and enjoys virtual autonomy.
Investigating one of its members,
even the Prosecutor General's Office of the USSR
can only do so with the agreement
of the leadership of these organs
or that of the NKVD.
If documents prove
violations in any one
of the departments of this Commissariat,
its leadership will not refuse
to launch criminal proceedings
against those who committed them.
Comrade... Kornev?...
... says he saw traces of torture
on the body of an inmate?
Can you have these observations
confirmed
by a certified medical examination?
Comrade Vyshinsky, it is the inmate
who wrote to the regional prosecutor's office
with his blood.
He is an old Bolshevik
and a former leading Party official.
I would like to explain
to Comrade Prosecutor General
that I was only able to access his cell
after overcoming
the reluctance of the director
who was loath to have this meeting happen.
And this director would surely have found
pretexts to delay
this medical examination,
just long enough to lock me up too.
I have no doubt
that this director and his deputies
are in cahoots
with the regional NKVD directorate.
And I chose to rely solely
on the trust
placed in my statement
by the Prosecutor General.
And I sincerely did not know
that a secret investigation
concerning an NKVD official
required written documents.
Yes,
for a jurist,
you act carelessly.
But the situation can be fixed.
Go back home
and send to the Prosecutor General's Office
the medical examination
of the inmate subjected, according to you,
to illegal methods
of interrogation.
I promise you that the investigation
will begin at once.
But...
if I return empty-handed,
since I will have broken
the hierarchical rules,
I will immediately be
fired and arrested.
The counter-revolutionaries of the regional
NKVD will not want
to leave a man free
who knows about their crimes.
Give Comrade Kornev
a document certifying that I received him.
On behalf of the prosecutor's office
of the region he depends on.
That will be enough for you
to proceed with actions
related to this case
without risks to your safety.
And provide a train ticket
for Comrade Kornev
on the Prosecutor General's reserve.
Everything that was said here,
make a brief report of it,
but detailed.
It will be attached to the document
we talked about.
Put this down too.
Such a document
could be of great help.
Well?
Later.
Get in.
To the station!
It's here.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
Is this your seat?
Number 5.
Excuse me. I...
- You can leave that.
- No, no...
I'll sit here.
We're off.
Are you from Moscow?
Me? No.
- Where from, then?
- From Bryansk.
Student?
Before, yes. Now, I work.
As what?
I am a lawyer,
a member of the bar association.
Prosecutor assigned to the inspection office.
What does that involve?
When citizens complain,
I make sure that everything is done
according to the law.
A very fine profession, comrade.
Necessary.
And Moscow?
Was it for a girl?
No, no.
What for,
if it's not a secret?
For work. At the prosecutor's office.
In Moscow?
Is there no prosecutor's office in Bryansk?
For an audience
with the Prosecutor General.
Vyshinsky?
Yes.
Petya, so young and already
at the Prosecutor General's!
We haven't been introduced yet.
- Petya.
- Alexander. Nice to meet you.
- And Vasya.
- Vasily.
Alexander. Nice to meet you.
Wait...
I'll be right back.
Chief, bring us a glass.
No, comrade, I don't drink.
You don't drink?
Soviet legality,
what a sin not to honor it!
Come on!
Thank you.
You wouldn't have a guitar?
No, but I have sugar.
What a joker!
Come on!
So that order prevails!
To order!
Here, eat.
Thank you.
And you, your profession?
We are liquidators.
We are engineers.
In Moscow. A design bureau.
- That's right.
- We design factories.
We design the future, in a word.
Architects.
Also. We can do anything.
We are rebuilding a factory in Bryansk.
- It's difficult... Big factory.
- Mechanical engineering?
- "Trade Union Plant".
- Foreign technology.
Hence the hitches, the misunderstandings.
A month ago,
a new assembly line
was supposed to go into service,
but: problem.
So we're going to see what happened:
simple mistake or sabotage?
You know that better than we do.
Sometimes, we don't know if it's
a technical error or sabotage.
An engineer looks ordinary:
family, kids, job.
Nothing to complain about,
except that actually he's a saboteur.
I wouldn't believe it
if they didn't confess.
- It's getting worse and worse.
- Yes.
It's the times we live in.
You deal with the enemies.
How do you know
if someone is one or not?
There are procedures.
An investigation is launched
when the crime is established.
If it is established. And if...
it hasn't been committed yet,
but the enemy is known, what to do?
According to Roman law,
there is the presumption of innocence.
And if, afterwards, there is sabotage?
Impossible to judge someone
without an established crime.
Then what?
Do we wait for him to commit it?
I understand your question.
Comrade Prosecutor...
Alexander.
We must be vigilant
and firmly hold the punitive sword
of Soviet legality.
We do not punish...
We investigate, accuse
and, if appropriate, the court punishes.
- Clear things up.
- That's right.
To vigilance!
Eat.
Thank you.
Who asked for a guitar?
Chief! Thank you! Well there you go!
Except we would need...
- Ah yes.
- Thank you.
Sing our song.
Morning meets us with a chill
And the river in the catching wind
Curly-haired girl, doesn't it delight you
This cheerful song of the siren?
Come on, get up, curly-haired girl!
Buzzing in the workshops
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
The team will welcome us
working
And you will greet your friends smiling
Whose labor, worries you share
The counterplan and even life
Beyond the Narva gate
It thunders and glows red
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
... this new day of hope
And with it
until the glorious victory
You will pass, playful youth,
Before the relief comes
Other youngsters driven by this dream
Who will surge into this prosperous life
And come to replace the fathers
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
With such a beautiful speech
Proclaim your truth to the world around you
We are going to meet life
Work, smiling love
Is it a sin to love, curly-haired girl?
When, at the first chime,
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
Get up, comrade,
we arrive in half an hour.
Comrade Ivanov?
- That's me.
- Comrade Petrov?
- You are from the Directorate?
- Absolutely.
He is with you?
Comrade Kornev.
Hello.
Do you have a car?
Comrades, could you drop me off?
Shall we drop him off, Vasya?
Let's go.
Thank you.
Are there chicks in this town?
Yes, of course.
Pretty ones?
Pretty ones too.
Easy to fish for?
To fish for what?
You don't get it?
You've never fished one?
I am single.
Ah, so that's it.
- And you've never tried, is that it?
- What's the question?
Don't be shy. We're among ourselves.
He certainly won't say anything.
Come on, out with it!
Have you done it or are you a virgin?
We shouldn't have turned there.
I won't let you go if you don't tell.
Come on, out with it! Yes or no?
We're all ears,
aren't we, Vasya!
Where are we going?
We're taking you.
To clear things up.
If appropriate.
Open the door!
Calm down, Kornev.
You are under arrest.
Adaptation: Jol Chapron
Some brigade!
They need three assistants each:
two to hold them up,
the third to move their legs.
Wake up!
These are the papers
the commander wants burned.
He's the one who's going to do it.
Do you have a cell that locks securely?
They all lock securely.
New locks.
Come on, take him.
Come on, move!
What's in the bag?
All the prison's secrets?
Or last year's construction
estimates?
None of your business,
you just have to burn it.
Got it?
Got it.
Get in.
You burn everything in this bag
in that stove.
And no funny business: you keep nothing.
Otherwise, it's a guaranteed month in the hole.
Got it?
Matches.
Here. That's enough for you.
You'll give me the box back.
Close it.
What is he in for?
S.H.E.
Well now! "Socially Harmful Element"?
And I thought he was
a lumberyard guard
who had a dirty trick
played on him by thieves. Wow!
Maybe he was
a madam in a brothel.
"Dear Comrade Stalin,
"My name is Smirnov,
"Ivan Sergeyevich,
"a member of the Bolshevik party
since before the Revolution.
"I am falsely accused of belonging
to the Trotskyist-Bukharinist bloc
"and confessions are being extorted from me
"during violent interrogations..."
"Dearest guide,
Comrade Stalin, we, the Pestrukhin
"brothers,
"kolkhoz workers,
former Red Army guards,
"are accused... of corrupting
"the Soviet state... extorting
"confessions under torture..."
What monsters! "We are devoted
"to the cause of the Communist Party
and have shed our blood...
"have shed our blood for it..."
Have shed our blood for it.
"Factory director...
"falsely accused...
"under torture...
"no strength left to bear...
"beg you to intervene...
"justice...
"communist."
Communist justice.
Communist... Justice.
BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
"I request the representative of the prosecutor's office
"to visit me in my cell
"to communicate
vital information.
"Stepnyak, I.S."
You have to knock.
What do you want?
We're going to the boss.
Open up.
He's here to see the commander.
Come in.
Hello.
Hello.
Have a seat, Comrade Prosecutor.
I'm listening.
You have a prisoner here
named Ivan Stepnyak.
The prosecutor's office has received
a request for a visit from him.
Wow!
But we have tens of thousands
of inmates here.
Do you have the building number,
or the cell of this...
Ivan Stepnyak.
Yes: building 5, cell 84.
The Special Block?
You received a request
from the Special Block?
Yes, why?
No, just asking.
For no reason.
Excuse me.
Yes.
No.
Yes.
I don't know, ask Petrovich.
Again?
Put them in building 1.
No, not yet interrogated.
Yes.
I understand.
Alright.
Young man,
issuing a pass
to see an inmate
under the jurisdiction
of the Regional NKVD Directorate
can only be obtained
from the prison director.
I'm sorry,
but you'll have to come back
or wait for his return.
Will it be long?
Many meetings
take place at the directorate
regarding inmate assignments.
They usually last a long time.
I will wait.
Can I wait here?
Of course.
Especially since I have to go
to a building right now.
They are all overcrowded,
hence a massive amount of work.
So...
Don't be upset
that I'm leaving you alone here.
It's just the job.
Make yourself comfortable.
Thank you.
Open up.
Yes!
Do you know what Radek answered
in prison to:
"What were you doing
before the Revolution?"
No.
"I was waiting in prison."
And to the question:
"And after the Revolution?"
No.
"Prison was waiting for me."
So, what is it?
I have a young guy here
from the prosecutor's inspection office.
Have they already appointed the new one?
And?
He wants to see the inmate
in cell 84 of the SB.
Stepnyak?
How does he know
he's in that cell?
No idea.
Petrovich,
I have the new inspector
from the prosecutor's office here.
Yeah, they didn't waste time.
A young guy.
He wants to see an inmate
from the Special Block.
Alright.
Alright.
And if he insists?
Alright.
Did you hear what Radek said?
Yes, of course, I will send you a report.
Let him stew for a bit.
If he's still there by tonight,
bring him to me.
Very well.
"Prison was waiting for him!"
Don't just stand there, go work.
Come on, get to work!
Is the deputy not here?
No.
Where is he?
He had things to do.
And who are you?
I am a prosecutor.
And to whom do I have the honor?
It doesn't matter.
Well?
The director is expecting you.
Open up.
Yes?
He's here.
Come in, please.
Sorry to have kept you waiting,
but I was held up by my superiors.
We live in difficult times,
as you are well aware.
Please, have a seat.
Pleased to meet you.
We are used to seeing older people
in this position,
but times are changing
and our ideas
about what young people can do
are obsolete.
Let's just say the whole state apparatus
is undergoing a rejuvenation.
And where do we stand with the request
I submitted?
You were undoubtedly informed of it.
Yes, of course, I was informed.
But, you see,
I think your meeting
with the inmate
should be postponed
to better days.
For what reason?
Actually,
given the overcrowding
of this prison
- which you cannot be unaware of -,
it is sometimes impossible
to respect sanitary standards.
Hence frequent outbreaks
of infectious diseases:
diphtheria, typhoid,
and sometimes even typhus.
Which is particularly severe
in the unfortunate building 5,
which we call among ourselves
the Special Block,
because that is where the convicts
for counter-revolutionary activities are held.
And it is precisely among them
that a medley of infectious diseases
proliferates.
I strongly advise against
even taking a single look in there
for anyone
whose duties do not require it.
But doing what my duties require
is exactly why I am here.
Yes, of course.
What I meant to say was that...
If a guard, for example,
cannot miss his shift,
a prosecutor, conversely,
can completely postpone
an interview with an inmate.
Without it affecting
the substance of the case.
But if I strongly advise against it,
it is because this inmate
that Comrade Kornev wants to see
is likely, according to the doctors,
to be a carrier of one of these diseases.
In that case, this inmate should be
transferred to the prison hospital.
That is necessary
if the inmate shares his cell.
But Stepnyak,
this dangerous state criminal,
is alone in his cell.
This kind of patient,
if it is not essential
to place him under medical observation
or to operate on him,
is generally treated in his cell.
Until disinfection,
especially in the case of a contagious disease,
it's better if only those
whose job requires it enter.
I have already spoken with the chief medical officer
about transferring the inmate to the visiting room
where lawyers go, but...
he opposes it.
Such a transfer
would go against sanitary rules
and would be highly detrimental
to the patient.
What disease is Stepnyak suffering from?
The doctors are not yet sure,
but it's intestinal.
Perhaps typhoid.
Typhoid?
But that's not so serious.
I don't intend to shake his hand
or eat from his bowl.
So you insist on seeing
immediately
inmate Stepnyak?
Yes, I insist.
SB 5, in my office immediately.
You have just been appointed?
Yes, three months ago.
Do you know where your predecessor is?
Yes!
Take Comrade...
Kornev.
Kornev, Prosecutor Kornev
to the inmate in cell 84.
Take Comrade Prosecutor
to inmate Stepnyak,
cell 84.
We must strictly comply
with the demands
of the prosecutor's inspection office.
I am delighted
that our new prosecutor
is such a tenacious
young man.
But I deplore
your lack of precaution.
There are diseases
where water and soap are of no help.
What do you mean?
Just this.
That one must never forget
the danger of contagion.
I'll do my best.
Good.
He is with me.
He is with me.
Open 84 for us.
Order from the prison director.
The prosecutor wants to see Stepnyak.
His name?
Kornev.
First names?
Alexander Mikhailovich.
Open up.
Citizen Stepnyak,
the prosecutor is here
to speak with you.
Show me
your professional ID, Citizen...
Prosecutor.
You don't trust
a representative of authority?
It's you
that I don't trust.
The inmate has the right to demand that from me.
Give the order to lower the bunk
so we can sit down.
Lower it, please.
And now,
tell them to leave us.
I will not speak
in the presence of a third party.
I am not a third party.
The regulations oblige me
to supervise the inmate.
You can do so through the peephole.
I don't intend
to attack the prosecutor.
But I insist
on the secrecy of our conversation.
It is my right.
Leave us, please,
it is his right.
Leave us.
I can barely stand.
I am here following this request.
Is this yours?
Yes...
I must have broken
the joint of my hand
on that piece of iron.
There is nothing sharp here.
Before making yourself bleed,
you must have asked for something to write with?
Yes...
but they refuse.
Allow me to ask you
how this request got out of here.
If it's your secret, don't answer.
What secret?
I gave it to the guard,
as they say, by the grace of God,
and it...
Good heavens!
It left these walls.
Are you really from the prosecutor's office?
I showed you my ID.
The investigation department
of the Regional NKVD Directorate
can manufacture anything!
Perhaps this document
will dispel your distrust.
So you studied law.
Are you a graduate?
Yes. For three months.
And how did you get to the prosecutor's office?
I was assigned there.
That means that, at the prosecutor's office,
our famous organs
have done a good job,
if, in positions like that,
it's rookies like you
that they're assigning.
Ivan Stepanovich...
Last year, for the 100th anniversary,
you gave a speech.
Yes...
Indeed,
I came to the university.
And so?
You said
that Soviet legality
was part of the Bolshevik truth.
And that we, future jurists,
must fight for this truth.
I was all ears
and I understood that it wasn't
just a pretty phrase.
You understood well.
That was exactly it.
We tore each other apart for it,
for this truth
of the workers and peasants,
with the White Russians.
Either we hid in pillboxes
under their fire,
or the gallows
awaited us.
But, today,
does the fight for Soviet legality
no longer entail any dangers?
My boy, you don't seem
stupid at all to me.
And since you're not stupid
and you came here,
it also means you are honest
and not a coward.
Are you married, by any chance?
No.
Do you still have your father and mother?
No, they are dead.
Then listen carefully
to what I am going to tell you.
But look first
at what the NKVD did to me.
Don't open your eyes too wide.
It's better if the other guy behind the door
doesn't see this.
There you go, kid.
Did you see what I'm spitting?
My urine is red too.
It was the same, during the Revolution.
One day, rich peasants
beat me up badly.
Except I was young at the time,
all curly-haired.
I recovered from it.
Whereas now,
if they add more to it,
I won't recover.
Besides, it wouldn't serve any purpose anymore.
What did you do to suffer this?
Not "what", but "why".
I'm the kind of guy
who's not easy to deal with.
I refuse for myself
as well as for other innocent people
to sign death sentences.
And yet, that's the only thing
they want from me...
these devious fascists from the NKVD.
The building dedicated to the investigation
and the internal prison
have become an immense dungeon.
Thousands of innocent people
are subjected to unimaginable...
beatings,
to the torture of being deprived
of food, of sleep,
just so they sign
false statements
against themselves
and against others.
Honest people declare themselves guilty
of crimes
that are beyond their comprehension,
and the cases go to the courts
which act on orders from this same NKVD.
They are particularly cruel
with the old Party members.
In our region, they have massacred
almost all the local cadres.
I think I am the last...
member of the Regional Committee
who is still
in this world.
And it's just because I am
more stubborn than the old members
and because I haven't signed anything.
They wanted me to sign that,
during the war with the Germans,
I was a secret agent for Petliura.
Except shooting their victim
without having obtained from them
the confession of these invented crimes,
the local fascists cannot do.
People must
slander themselves.
Obviously,
it's important for the reports
to the governing bodies.
"See how our vigilance
"allows us to nip in the bud
sedition in our own house!"
They are afraid of revelations.
And try to make everything happen
as the law requires.
Beating a stubborn suspect
to death,
costs them nothing,
these NKVD executioners,
but to them it's
an unfortunate blunder.
That's why people like me,
they put them in a glass case
hoping that these people
with crushed innards
won't last long.
When I die, it will be written
that it is of course due
to heart failure
in this very prison.
They are the enemies of the people,
these NKVD saboteurs.
They don't damage machine tools,
nor do they set fire to factories.
But the old leaders
devoted to the Party,
they replace them
with young, loud-mouthed careerists.
And honest and conscientious
specialists
with narrow-minded ignoramuses.
It's not for me
that I'm asking you this.
I'm done for, anyway.
But the cause of our Revolution
torments me to the core.
If you are truly
a true Bolshevik
not a coward,
and an honest Soviet jurist,
leave immediately for Moscow
and get an audience with Stalin.
If you can't manage that,
go find any member
of the Politburo:
Yezhov, Voroshilov,
Molotov...
And tell them that, here,
the cream of the Party is being exterminated.
Hundreds of thousands
of honest Soviet citizens!
And don't dawdle.
You managed to get
this meeting with me and...
they are not going to leave you in peace.
You won't even have time
to turn around
before you yourself
will similarly end up in the clink.
Open up.
He left.
He'll be at your place soon.
Wait.
Yes.
This work, it has to be done beforehand,
not after the fact.
We're training little morons.
After the battle,
in 1916, the one at Kovel,
my good sir,
they amputated my arm and my leg.
Back then, there was nothing set up
for the wounded.
The small allowance for invalids
came much later.
So I tell myself, I need a job,
except I only have my left hand.
I went to find my father.
He tells me:
"I don't have enough to feed you."
Can you imagine?
I wandered around for a good year
and I decided
to go to St. Petersburg,
my good sir,
to ask Lenin if there might be a way
to benefit from proletarian charity,
seeing as we can still say
that I shed my blood,
that I sacrificed my life.
And did Lenin give you charity?
Wait, don't go too fast.
The young man has knowledge,
we have to proceed in order.
Anyway, finally, from convoys
to government wagons,
I ended up arriving,
my good sir,
in St. Petersburg.
Can you imagine the sight?
A grunt covered in lice
who finds himself in the capital,
which has, if I may say so,
no equal in the world.
Suddenly, before him,
Nevsky Prospect, can you imagine,
Pea Street, doggone it,
and Foundry Street,
the Admiralty spire.
The bridges are open,
straight up, without touching.
A real Scheherazade tale,
my good sir.
Stop it, you one-armed man!
You, maybe you've already seen it all,
but the kid hasn't even
set foot there yet.
Maybe he hasn't even touched a chick.
Huh?
I start looking for housing,
except it's unaffordable.
Now, me,
my entire fortune,
is just
10 poor 5-ruble assignats.
I ended up going to the Revel hotel
at 1 ruble a day.
Cabbage soup and beaten meat.
I tell myself I won't get far like this.
I ask where to go.
I'm told: "Go to Smolny, then,
"go see Lenin directly,
"at the very heart of Soviet power.
"That's where it is,
true justice."
Who is the idiot
- who led you to believe that?
- Shut up, you complete ass.
Listen instead. Up at the crack of dawn,
I scraped my beard off
with my left hand,
- because paying a barber is also,
in its own way, spending money -,
I put on my little uniform
and, with my little wooden leg,
off I go!
Do you get the picture?
I'm going to see Lenin
at Smolny.
And there! Mirrors, vases,
all-white ceilings,
columns, priceless marbles,
and people running everywhere.
They let me in with difficulty
and tell me to fend for myself.
I struggle like a devil.
Everyone has seen Lenin,
but nobody knows where he is.
I end up turning up with my wooden leg
in an antechamber,
I stick myself in a corner
so as not to knock over
America or India
in golden earthenware vases.
I must have stayed there
a good four hours
and, finally, an aide-de-camp
or a duty officer
comes out and says:
"Lenin is coming to the antechamber!"
The antechamber is more packed than ever.
They are all decorated and smoking
some nasty tobacco. Running everywhere.
We hear shush-shush!
And suddenly!...
A dead silence settles in.
Lenin arrives.
And so?
Can you imagine?
The statesman himself.
In person, if I may say so,
with the title that goes with it
and that expression, you understand.
Everyone there is standing straight
as an arrow, trembling as they wait
for a decision that, in its own way,
will seal their fates.
He approaches one,
then another.
"Why are you here?"
"And you, what brings you?"
And he approaches me.
I gather my strength:
"Here, Your Excellency,
"Guide of the Revolution,
"I shed my blood,
I lost an arm and a leg.
"I can't work
and ask for the monarch's charity."
Lenin's gaze pierces through me,
he sees my wooden leg,
my right sleeve pinned to the uniform.
"Well," he says,
"come back in a few days.
"We are always delighted
to receive the proletariat,
"even without an arm or a leg."
- No kidding!
- That's right!
That's what he said.
Yes...
"Come back then, my friend."
Then, I tell myself: "It's good,
"It's settled."
And then?
What, then?
What happened then?
Well, nothing.
What do you mean, nothing?
You seem to have been around the block,
you've even left all your teeth there,
but you don't understand a damn thing.
And Lenin, then?
Disappeared, Lenin!
I go back there once, twice,
and it's always the same old song:
"Tomorrow, tomorrow."
I got sick of it.
I made a hell of a racket,
I yelled, insulted!
And then, emerging from the cloud of tobacco,
a messenger arrives.
A two-meter colossus
with huge arms
like those of a carter
or a dentist.
He grabs me, poor wretch,
sticks me in a cart
and straight to the clink.
I lived at the State's expense
for a little while and they let me go.
Lenin had died in the meantime.
Now, I'm going to see Stalin.
Yes, it seems
he is the incarnation of goodness.
Because it's not for me
that, in a sense, I shed
my blood and sacrificed my life.
But you
who have knowledge, tell me:
do you think he's going to compensate me?
Huh?
Are you in line?
Young man,
are you looking for someone?
Yes.
Who?
The Prosecutor General.
I have business with him.
If that's the case,
you must know where his office is.
Yes?
Excuse me?
I'm looking for the exit. Where is it?
Down the stairs on the left.
Are you alright?
Yes.
I find that improper.
My dear friend!
You're here too! Congratulations!
I congratulate you!
I always believed in you
and always thought you'd go far!
You're really an ace!
And you've grown so much!
In every sense of the word,
obviously!
Do we know each other?
Let me introduce you:
Comrade Mrazovich.
And we studied together
and he has risen in the ranks.
Mrazovich.
Kornev.
That's right, Kornev, an artist,
a hell of an artist, even!
- Come see me.
- Alright.
He's not just anybody.
Go see him, if you have a problem.
When were you transferred? What department?
- I...
- I imagine, not in mine.
What are you here for,
if it's not a secret?
Excuse me,
but have we met somewhere?
Kornev, stop playing the fool.
Come see me later.
Office 312. Walk in without knocking.
Alright.
Yes, I'm listening.
Hello,
I've come to see the Prosecutor General.
Do you have an audience?
No.
Actually, Comrade Kornev,
the Prosecutor General only receives
by summons
from the Prosecutor General's Office.
So I cannot do anything
for you.
I've come from far away for a state matter
of the utmost importance.
Everyone who is here
is too.
Do you have a mission order?
No.
But...
it really is vital.
If that's the case,
why hasn't the prosecutor's office
Comrade Kornev reports to
requested an audience
with the Prosecutor General?
And why doesn't Comrade Kornev
have a mission order
stating that he must go
to the Prosecutor General's Office?
I can't even put you
on the list
of people with a doubtful request
which the Prosecutor General alone judges.
I am a Party member
and I come to inform the Prosecutor General
of a vital matter
of extreme urgency.
Furthermore, I must see him alone,
face to face.
Impossible to record this in writing,
as you suggest.
It is in your interest
to take this seriously.
- Thank you.
- Goodbye.
Please.
- Come in.
- Thank you.
Very well.
I will speak to the Prosecutor General
and inform you of his decision.
Wait in the antechamber,
please.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Goodbye.
Comrade Zavtrakin!
Please.
Come in, please.
- Thank you, goodbye.
- Goodbye.
Comrade Smirnov!
You are lucky.
Comrade Prosecutor General,
against all odds,
agrees to see you.
But remember
that this is one of the busiest people
in the state.
You must therefore be very concise
and not waste the Comrade
Prosecutor General's time.
Two-three minutes, no more.
I'm listening.
My name is Kornev.
I am a prosecutor at the Bryansk prosecutor's office,
in charge of inspecting
places of detention.
There I have established
the commission of violations
of socialist legality
by the Directorate
of State Security
during the investigation
of counter-revolutionary crimes
as well as violations
of detention rules
for prisoners suspected of such crimes.
Continue.
I have been informed of beatings,
numerous and cruel,
of an inmate
during interrogations carried out
by the Regional NKVD Directorate.
There is every reason to believe that
such beatings
and other illegal methods
during the investigation
conducted by this Directorate
are of a systematic nature.
As indirect proof, I cite
the deprivation of inmates
in the region's political prisons
of the possibility to complain
to the appropriate authorities.
This is perhaps
the only request that has reached
the prosecutor's office from the political section
of the municipal prison.
The material this complaint is on
and what was used to write it
speak for themselves.
BRYANSK REGIONAL PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE
And why inform me
of these violations
and not the regional prosecutor?
Because I do not believe
in the determination
of the regional prosecutor's office to interfere
in the affairs of the local NKVD.
I fear, moreover, that this prosecutor's office
would neither want nor even be able
to defend a collaborator,
who had tried to interfere in this way,
from reprisals.
Obtaining the prosecutor's approval
to arrest an undesirable person
has become in our region
a pure formality.
And therefore, going to my superior
was for me
not only practically useless,
but would have been almost suicidal.
And I decided
to turn to you as a
state official, but above all
as an honest Party member.
And, in your opinion, with what purpose
are the violations committed
that you suspect in your region?
Comrade Vyshinsky,
I am sure that,
at the regional NKVD,
a group of counter-revolutionaries
is operating
pretending to be Stalinist Chekists.
Abusing their position,
they exterminate the best people
by accusing them of imaginary crimes.
They thus undermine
the local economy,
the administrative management
and discredit Soviet legality
in the eyes of the people.
The governing bodies
of the whole region
are destabilized and terrified
by these criminals.
Especially the officials
of the prosecutor's office and the courts.
I don't exclude that some,
perhaps against their will,
are executing their instructions.
Yet, anyone who could
expose
the devious malice of the acts
of the regional security organs
is preventively arrested
and, in large part,
no doubt already eliminated.
The devoted Party cadres
are replaced
by incompetent youths,
but loyal to the NKVD.
And, if one of them discovers
an incongruity,
they prefer to act
as if nothing had happened:
"Forget us and we'll forget you."
A true system,
Comrade Vyshinsky.
Perhaps some opportunists
have been circumvented
by their ascent
due neither to their skills
nor to their experience.
I could have followed their example,
but I am prevented from doing so
by my conscience as a Soviet citizen,
as a Party member
and as a Soviet jurist.
I cannot remain inactive
before crimes
committed massively
and relentlessly.
The intervention of the Prosecutor General's Office
must stop them.
I think
that it's a destructive process
that must stop immediately.
So you want the Prosecutor General's Office
to launch an investigation,
at once,
into the counter-revolutionary activity
of the security organs
in your region, is that right?
Exactly, Comrade Vyshinsky.
That could be possible
if it were a private individual
or some state authority.
But this Commissariat
for Internal Affairs has, today,
special powers
and enjoys virtual autonomy.
Investigating one of its members,
even the Prosecutor General's Office of the USSR
can only do so with the agreement
of the leadership of these organs
or that of the NKVD.
If documents prove
violations in any one
of the departments of this Commissariat,
its leadership will not refuse
to launch criminal proceedings
against those who committed them.
Comrade... Kornev?...
... says he saw traces of torture
on the body of an inmate?
Can you have these observations
confirmed
by a certified medical examination?
Comrade Vyshinsky, it is the inmate
who wrote to the regional prosecutor's office
with his blood.
He is an old Bolshevik
and a former leading Party official.
I would like to explain
to Comrade Prosecutor General
that I was only able to access his cell
after overcoming
the reluctance of the director
who was loath to have this meeting happen.
And this director would surely have found
pretexts to delay
this medical examination,
just long enough to lock me up too.
I have no doubt
that this director and his deputies
are in cahoots
with the regional NKVD directorate.
And I chose to rely solely
on the trust
placed in my statement
by the Prosecutor General.
And I sincerely did not know
that a secret investigation
concerning an NKVD official
required written documents.
Yes,
for a jurist,
you act carelessly.
But the situation can be fixed.
Go back home
and send to the Prosecutor General's Office
the medical examination
of the inmate subjected, according to you,
to illegal methods
of interrogation.
I promise you that the investigation
will begin at once.
But...
if I return empty-handed,
since I will have broken
the hierarchical rules,
I will immediately be
fired and arrested.
The counter-revolutionaries of the regional
NKVD will not want
to leave a man free
who knows about their crimes.
Give Comrade Kornev
a document certifying that I received him.
On behalf of the prosecutor's office
of the region he depends on.
That will be enough for you
to proceed with actions
related to this case
without risks to your safety.
And provide a train ticket
for Comrade Kornev
on the Prosecutor General's reserve.
Everything that was said here,
make a brief report of it,
but detailed.
It will be attached to the document
we talked about.
Put this down too.
Such a document
could be of great help.
Well?
Later.
Get in.
To the station!
It's here.
- Good evening.
- Good evening.
Is this your seat?
Number 5.
Excuse me. I...
- You can leave that.
- No, no...
I'll sit here.
We're off.
Are you from Moscow?
Me? No.
- Where from, then?
- From Bryansk.
Student?
Before, yes. Now, I work.
As what?
I am a lawyer,
a member of the bar association.
Prosecutor assigned to the inspection office.
What does that involve?
When citizens complain,
I make sure that everything is done
according to the law.
A very fine profession, comrade.
Necessary.
And Moscow?
Was it for a girl?
No, no.
What for,
if it's not a secret?
For work. At the prosecutor's office.
In Moscow?
Is there no prosecutor's office in Bryansk?
For an audience
with the Prosecutor General.
Vyshinsky?
Yes.
Petya, so young and already
at the Prosecutor General's!
We haven't been introduced yet.
- Petya.
- Alexander. Nice to meet you.
- And Vasya.
- Vasily.
Alexander. Nice to meet you.
Wait...
I'll be right back.
Chief, bring us a glass.
No, comrade, I don't drink.
You don't drink?
Soviet legality,
what a sin not to honor it!
Come on!
Thank you.
You wouldn't have a guitar?
No, but I have sugar.
What a joker!
Come on!
So that order prevails!
To order!
Here, eat.
Thank you.
And you, your profession?
We are liquidators.
We are engineers.
In Moscow. A design bureau.
- That's right.
- We design factories.
We design the future, in a word.
Architects.
Also. We can do anything.
We are rebuilding a factory in Bryansk.
- It's difficult... Big factory.
- Mechanical engineering?
- "Trade Union Plant".
- Foreign technology.
Hence the hitches, the misunderstandings.
A month ago,
a new assembly line
was supposed to go into service,
but: problem.
So we're going to see what happened:
simple mistake or sabotage?
You know that better than we do.
Sometimes, we don't know if it's
a technical error or sabotage.
An engineer looks ordinary:
family, kids, job.
Nothing to complain about,
except that actually he's a saboteur.
I wouldn't believe it
if they didn't confess.
- It's getting worse and worse.
- Yes.
It's the times we live in.
You deal with the enemies.
How do you know
if someone is one or not?
There are procedures.
An investigation is launched
when the crime is established.
If it is established. And if...
it hasn't been committed yet,
but the enemy is known, what to do?
According to Roman law,
there is the presumption of innocence.
And if, afterwards, there is sabotage?
Impossible to judge someone
without an established crime.
Then what?
Do we wait for him to commit it?
I understand your question.
Comrade Prosecutor...
Alexander.
We must be vigilant
and firmly hold the punitive sword
of Soviet legality.
We do not punish...
We investigate, accuse
and, if appropriate, the court punishes.
- Clear things up.
- That's right.
To vigilance!
Eat.
Thank you.
Who asked for a guitar?
Chief! Thank you! Well there you go!
Except we would need...
- Ah yes.
- Thank you.
Sing our song.
Morning meets us with a chill
And the river in the catching wind
Curly-haired girl, doesn't it delight you
This cheerful song of the siren?
Come on, get up, curly-haired girl!
Buzzing in the workshops
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
The team will welcome us
working
And you will greet your friends smiling
Whose labor, worries you share
The counterplan and even life
Beyond the Narva gate
It thunders and glows red
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
... this new day of hope
And with it
until the glorious victory
You will pass, playful youth,
Before the relief comes
Other youngsters driven by this dream
Who will surge into this prosperous life
And come to replace the fathers
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
With such a beautiful speech
Proclaim your truth to the world around you
We are going to meet life
Work, smiling love
Is it a sin to love, curly-haired girl?
When, at the first chime,
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
The country rises with glory
And praises this new day of hope
Get up, comrade,
we arrive in half an hour.
Comrade Ivanov?
- That's me.
- Comrade Petrov?
- You are from the Directorate?
- Absolutely.
He is with you?
Comrade Kornev.
Hello.
Do you have a car?
Comrades, could you drop me off?
Shall we drop him off, Vasya?
Let's go.
Thank you.
Are there chicks in this town?
Yes, of course.
Pretty ones?
Pretty ones too.
Easy to fish for?
To fish for what?
You don't get it?
You've never fished one?
I am single.
Ah, so that's it.
- And you've never tried, is that it?
- What's the question?
Don't be shy. We're among ourselves.
He certainly won't say anything.
Come on, out with it!
Have you done it or are you a virgin?
We shouldn't have turned there.
I won't let you go if you don't tell.
Come on, out with it! Yes or no?
We're all ears,
aren't we, Vasya!
Where are we going?
We're taking you.
To clear things up.
If appropriate.
Open the door!
Calm down, Kornev.
You are under arrest.
Adaptation: Jol Chapron