Set in Prague in 1953, this suspenseful crime drama follows honest police captain Hakl (Trojan) and his investigation of a seemingly mundane robbery at a goldsmith’s shop. In a fraught political climate, this incident is seized on by the Communist authorities, who require a smokescreen for their own, far grander, deception. On the orders of State Security, Hakl’s investigation is taken over by Major Zenke (Sebastian Koch, The Lives of Others), an East German specialist, who has been told to “prove” that the gold was stolen by the Jewish community to finance Zionist terrorism. But the experienced Hakl’s instincts puts him on the path of an altogether different story. Can one just man stand up to the forces of an increasingly oppressive state? The shadow of the past looms over all involved, and this can make a culprit of a victim and a hero of a culprit. Somber and atmospheric, this is a moving and compelling study of the Stalinist era.

wolong