At the height of the Stalinist terror in 1937, an idealistic young prosecutor named Kornyev arrives at a prison to investigate allegations of corruption and brutality made by a prisoner. Kornyev’s dogged pursuit of justice in Stalin's USSR becomes a dangerous journey into the heart of a system devouring its own.

Based on a story by Georgy Demidov, himself a victim of political imprisonment, this critical success at Cannes has drawn comparisons with Dostoevsky and Kafka, though film viewers might also cite Bresson and Melville. The action moves at the rhythm of bureaucracy, but it is never less than engrossing as Kornyev works his way through the system. As with many works about the absurdity of bureaucracy, there is a sly humour in places at the ludicrous idea that what they are doing amounts to administration. But this never detracts from the insight that tyranny is as banal as it is malevolent. Working between archival, documentary and fictional modes, Sergei Loznitza once more proves himself to be the sharpest voice emerging from post-Soviet filmmaking.