Child 44 (2015)

Your father?
Dead?
What's your name?
I don't want it anymore.
I'll give you a new one.
Leo. Like a lion.
Vasili, fire your weapon!
Shit.
Fall back! Vasili, get down!
Get down! Shoot back!
Alexei, cover me!
Vasili, fire your weapon!
Vasili! Hey, Vasili!
You can come up the stairs now. It's safe.
Don't be coward. No one will shoot you.
Alexei, just leave him alone.
- Give him the flag.
- Me?
You. You, too. Come with me.
- Me?
- Yeah.
Leo, make us proud.
I will, sir.
Okay. Get up there. On the spire.
Now let's show the people
how Berlin has fallen to the Red Army.
- Lose the goddamn watches.
- What?
Take them off. Stolen watches.
They can't be seen.
- Hey, Leo!
- What?
The Admiral, he don't like my watches.
You take this.
- He doesn't like watches?
- No. He doesn't like German watches.
- Grab the flag and get up there.
- Yeah, come up here. You take the flag.
- Okay, wait, wait.
- Take the flag.
Catch a big wind,
so we can see our flag.
- Good, that's right.
- Like this?
Yeah, great.
One more.
- You're sure?
- Yeah.
Do you remember when we first met?
Raisa, remember when we first met?
You thought that I was rude.
- You were rude.
- I was not rude.
- You were staring at me.
- I was...
I was mesmerized.
I was mesmerized by your beauty.
Even had to get off at the wrong
Metro station just to ask you your name.
- I lied.
- She did.
She told me her name was Lena.
- Yes. I didn't know you then.
- So you still lied.
I turn up at the park
to see my beautiful Lena.
- No Lena.
- It was raining.
- It was raining for a week.
- It was raining.
Questionable.
But then I found you somehow.
8:15 a.m. Same train platform
that I met you before.
Then I asked you... well, I convinced you
to walk with me that day.
And when we got to the school gate,
I held your hands, and I looked
into your eyes, and I said to you,
"Lena... Lena, Lena, Lena, Lena,
"Lena, Lena, Lena,
"I am so ready to kiss you right now."
And do you know what Lena told me?
"Comrade Demidov, my name is Raisa."
Who's Raisa? So now I have
to go back to work,
and tell all my friends
that I'm in love with Raisa.
This beautiful Raisa.
My friends, they all laugh at me.
You were the worst, I remember.
Laughed at me because they say,
"Last week, we in love with Lena,
this week, it's Raisa..."
Next week, maybe Natasha. Who knows?
With Leo it's always someone new.
No, there will never be somebody new.
There will only be you.
All those stories are over for me now.
There is only you.
There will always only be you.
Always you.
This is the veterinarian's place.
Stinking zoo for a stinking traitor.
Is he gone?
- You can't say I didn't tell you, boss.
- Collect the evidence for me, please.
And you have no idea whatsoever
where Anatoly Brodsky might be?
None.
All I can tell you, he was...
Was?
- Is.
- Is?
He is a good neighbor.
I respect and admire you trying
to protect him, but...
you see, for me it's different,
because we are here
in your home because
your friend, companion,
he is a traitor, Zina.
You understand?
And traitors have friends.
And these "friends,"
they are not our friends.
Do I have to spell this out for you?
Zina,
now is the time to say...
something.
Anything.
Mama! Mama!
No shooting.
- Mama.
- Don't move.
- Semyon Okun?
- Yes.
There is no one else in here.
Anatoly Brodsky, do you know him?
- Yes, I know Brodsky.
- Right. Do you know where he is?
- Brodsky? In Moscow, I think.
- No, he's not in Moscow.
But we have information that tells us
that he's staying here with you.
- No.
- Oh, it's...
Wait, you said something.
Yes, you did. You did.
You said something.
- No.
- What did you say?
Yuri, Nikolai, spread out!
Brodsky!
Brodsky!
Don't fuck with me.
Put your hands where I can see them.
- Come on. Get it over with.
- Put your hands on your head.
- Don't be stupid.
- Shoot me.
- Put your hands on your head.
- Come on, shoot me!
Kill me! Kill me!
Come on, kill me!
Alexei!
Kill me!
Alexei! Alexei!
I got this.
He's fucking crazy.
Please, I ask you.
I beg you. Don't do this.
Please, don't kill my family,
my children.
These are the future of Russia.
Please! No, please, I beg you!
What is he doing?
Please, no, don't hurt her.
I ask you, please!
- No! No!
- Please! I ask you, please!
No!
Vasili!
Hey! Vasili!
What the fuck are you doing?
Making... making an example.
- You're doing what?
- Making example.
- Making example of what?
- These people are traitors.
Maybe now they can grow up
and learn a lesson from all this.
- What did you fucking say?
- They can learn a lesson from this.
Learn something from you, little shit?
What are they gonna
fucking learn from you?
You fucking coward!
Children! Fucking children!
- What's your fucking answer?
- Leo.
I want men!
Leo.
Shit.
Get him out of here, because I will
fucking kill him. Do you understand me?
Move him now.
Get these children out of here.
What is wrong with you people?
Alexei!
Alexei!
Take care of this.
Do you have any relatives
that live nearby?
Have you tried that with a kopeck?
It's best with a kopeck.
Let me show you, okay? Not here.
Little further down the line
would be better.
- What's your name?
- Jora.
You can save yourself...
a lot of pain...
and unnecessary suffering
if you talk to me.
Yes.
Who are you working for?
Anna...
Ivanovna Akmatova.
She has a dog, which will not eat.
Mattias Borisky Rakowski.
His terrier is going blind.
I'm a veterinarian. I'm nothing more.
If you are so innocent...
why do you run?
That is a very good question.
I run because you were following me.
When you are followed, you are arrested.
And when you are arrested...
you are already guilty.
So you tell me.
Why did I run?
Do you have any idea...
what happens...
in this room next door here,
to a man like you,
when you don't talk?
A child knows what will happen to me.
- Should he cross?
- No!
- What should he do?
- Look both ways!
Yes. Good.
Because our leader loves his children,
want them all to be safe.
This is sodium thiopental.
In less than a minute,
he will only be able to speak the truth.
Okay.
Little bit more.
Wait. Wait.
Vasili, ask your questions.
Okay. I want the name of every person
passing you information
from the British Embassy.
Leo.
Leo.
- What is it?
- Someone at the door.
Where?
Major Kuzmin?
I came as fast as I could.
There's been a terrible accident.
Alexei's son has been hit by a train.
I thought you wanted
to hear it from me first.
A train?
You and Alexei Andreyevich
came through the war together,
didn't you?
Yes.
We value Alexei. And we do everything
we can to protect him.
I'm sorry, I don't follow you. You...
protect him?
The poor man must be beside himself.
He's claiming his son was murdered.
Stalin tells us that murder
is strictly a capitalist disease.
But Alexei is flirting with treason.
So you know what has to be done.
I will find someone
on the third floor to deal...
And who better to do it than you?
Done.
Your brother. Help him help himself.
- Alexei.
- Leo.
Come in.
I am so sorry.
I have been personally...
asked to share
the official report with you.
"Yesterday morning,
25th of October at 10:35,
"the body of one Jora Andreyev,
"8 years old,
"was found close by the train tracks
at 1 kilometer east of Vialki.
"He was found fully clothed.
"Further examination of the victim's
body and the witness..."
My boy was found naked.
No. He was found fully clothed.
"Further examination..."
A train doesn't undress a boy.
"Further examination
of the victim's body
"and witness testimony
show multiple contusions,
"with bruisings and lacerations
to the torso.
"In keeping with this testimony,
we believe the cause of death
"was indeed a tragic accident."
Why would a report even bother
to mention that he was clothed?
This was signed by Major Kuzmin.
He is the Department of Interior
Crimes Against the State.
5th Main Directorate, MGB.
Someone has slaughtered my son!
Your godson, Leo! And you do nothing?
I am sorry.
- Read the report.
- To find out what?
Someone has slaughtered your son.
- Do something!
- Nina!
Someone has slaughtered your son!
Someone has slaughtered your son!
Someone has slaughtered your son!
This is crazy.
You cannot do this.
I have men downstairs!
They can hear everything. There is a reason
why they sent me. You understand?
You have to be quiet.
They wouldn't let me see him, Leo.
- They wouldn't let me see my boy.
- Alexei, please, will you just...
- No, you tell me.
- ...read the file?
Tell me.
What should I tell her? My wife?
You tell her
whatever it takes to protect
every single body in that room.
Everybody in there, who you love,
you tell them whatever it takes.
Do you understand?
And you let him go.
Alexei, there can be
no murder in paradise.
Remember?
There's a witness, Leo.
Excuse me?
A woman.
What do you mean?
She saw that man.
She saw the man who took my boy.
She saw him.
- You have a witness?
- Yes.
- And she will testify?
- Maybe. Her windows overlook the tracks.
She saw Jora with a man.
My boy was murdered.
- You don't know this.
- I know it.
And you don't lie to me,
because you know it, too.
You know it.
I want the coroner to do a full autopsy
on the Andreyev child.
So I heard
there was a problem
with Vasili in Kimov.
I apologize.
You're only flesh and blood.
Striking a fellow officer
can bring you the kind of attention
you could live without.
But you did a great service
by talking to the Andreyevs.
Alexei will thank you. One day.
By the way,
Brodsky. Full confession.
He gave us seven names.
Six went to others.
Considering you're one
of my most thorough investigators,
I gave you the toughest nut
of the bunch.
So, you asked for a full autopsy
of that boy.
- What's his name?
- Jora Alexei Andreyevich.
- Jora?
- Da.
This one is yours.
We don't have much, as you'll see.
So you are to collect
further information.
And if Brodsky was telling the truth,
if that individual is a traitor,
you are to arrest them
and bring them here.
The usual process.
Any questions?
Raisa! Raisa!
Raisa!
- No, no, please, no.
- Please help me!
- No, no, no, please.
- Raisa!
She has no...
- What is the charge? What is the charge?
- Raisa! Raisa!
Why her?
Because she couldn't keep her goddamn
opinion to herself. That's why.
Ivan, maybe we should go
our separate ways.
Raisa.
Is she a traitor?
They have a confession.
And who took this confession?
A colleague of mine.
Could it have been manufactured?
Of course.
Do you have evidence?
No.
So what are you going to do?
If I do not denounce...
Raisa, and she is a traitor,
they have something on her
that I don't know about,
I don't find or...
Obviously, we are all guilty
by association, regardless.
What did you expect when you came here?
That we didn't mind dying?
That Raisa would be saved?
But if you don't denounce her,
we will die. All four of us.
But the only difference,
that you would die knowing in your heart
that you did the right thing.
And so you calculate.
One dead. Or four.
One dead. Or four.
Are you expecting somebody?
It's Raisa. She always
eats with us on Wednesdays.
- Anna.
- Oh, Raisa.
Good to see you.
He was working nearby.
For once we can eat as a family.
How was school?
- Good.
- Good.
And you've come here...
Did you walk straight from work?
Normally, I would be,
but I had a doctor's appointment...
- Doctor's appointment?
- ...at the Kuzminski Prospekt. Yes.
You sick?
- All right?
- Yes.
- Not sick?
- No.
Why do you go doctor?
I wanted to tell you
when we're on our own.
Why?
We are all family here.
We don't keep secrets from one another.
I'm pregnant.
That's wonderful news.
Congratulations.
- Excuse me.
- We are going to be grandparents.
What?
Kuzmin sent us. We're here to help.
Very nice apartment.
What are you doing?
There is better way than that.
That is not the way.
You feel the cushions.
You think it was me, don't you?
But no one ever listens to me.
Don't you know that?
Ivan, please!
Ivan, please!
Gentlemen, please.
She teaches domestic arts. Sewing.
What could she have possibly...
It's fine, it's fine.
Purse.
They took one of my colleagues today.
Eva. Friend of mine.
Do you know whose name...
ended up on my desk?
Can you imagine?
- No.
- No?
You. You have been named.
Do you want to know by who?
Anatoly Brodsky.
Do you know him?
Does it matter?
Yes, it matters.
It matters to me.
They asked me...
to denounce you.
Raisa,
are you a spy?
No.
No.
You do know what happens
to us now, right?
Yes.
It's just our turn.
Demidov, you asked
for the autopsy report.
- I was forbidden to show it to you.
- Doesn't matter. It's not important now.
I thought you might want to know.
There's been another one.
- Another what?
- A train accident.
What is it?
Two boys. Found by the tracks.
Both naked. Same cause of death.
- Which is?
- Drowning.
- Drowning?
- But there are no rivers, no lakes
next to the places
where they were found.
And around the iris, hemorrhaging.
As with strangulation.
There's one big difference
between the boys.
- What's that?
- Jora Andreyevich,
he had visual signs of trauma.
As if by torture.
Cuts, Leo. Targeted. Not random.
It was almost with surgical precision.
Stomach removed. Missing.
Water spilling from the boy.
This is not the work
of some average idiot.
You are sure you don't want
to reexamine your report?
There is no need.
- I found nothing.
- Leo...
I am sure you realize what this means?
Major Kuzmin, I have stood here
for the past 10 minutes
telling you exactly the same thing.
Because it is the truth.
I found... nothing.
Raisa Demidova
is innocent.
This is all you can take.
You carry nothing on your person,
except your clothes and your papers.
Alexei, why did you...
That's fine. That's okay. All right.
Please, give me five minutes because...
- You know the rules, Leo.
- Please, five minutes.
Just get dressed. You have two minutes.
Want five.
You fucking dog!
Don't you fucking touch her.
- I will put him through the fucking window.
- It's fine. It's fine.
- Jesus.
- Let her be.
Here.
- No! No, Leo! No, Leo!
- Where are you taking her?
No, Leo!
Raisa?
- Raisa, are you there?
- Yes.
- Did they hurt you?
- No.
Good.
Do exactly as they say. Raisa?
You must not be scared. All right?
I understand. Let go of me!
Let go of me! I understand.
Come here. It's okay, it's okay.
- She is pregnant!
- What are they doing?
It's all right. This is where
we wait for the truck, okay?
Look, you see?
This is where the truck comes.
They pick us up. They take us away.
Do you understand?
- But where are we going?
- I don't know.
It's okay. She's pregnant. Da?
She's pregnant.
Leo, where are we going?
Where are we going?
I thought you'd like to see the place
one last time.
I'm sentimental like that.
Raisa. Raisa. Raisa.
You're going to Volsk,
which, from what I've heard,
is pretty much the asshole
of the earth, and join the Militsia.
You know, all he had to do
was to denounce you,
and in a year the whole building
would be kissing his ass.
It was the only option.
But you won't listen.
Enjoy your new life.
You know, this whole thing
was just a test of blind obedience.
You should have given me up.
That's what wives are for.
What are you waiting for?
I only heard three days ago
you were coming.
It's unusual.
Because I made no requests
for additional men.
And I'm a little confused
about the orders.
The Militsia is a significant demotion
for a man of your stature.
We go where we are needed.
Do you know what I heard?
I heard they made you take off
a dozen stolen watches
before they handed you that flag.
There are no advantages
to being in Militsia.
Once an apartment is found,
you will be assigned.
But it's a very long waiting list.
You start tomorrow.
The bar doesn't give credit.
Toilet is down the hall.
Comrade Director, Raisa Demidova.
I have been assigned here.
Would you be so kind
to show me to my classroom?
Fine.
Here is your classroom.
If we need you for anything else,
we will tell you.
Demidov.
Varlam, wait! Varlam!
- Goodbye, General Nesterov.
- Goodbye, Varlam.
Let's go, Varlam.
It's tragic.
But even the party can't be responsible
for the acts of a mental defective.
Your rank is in my hands, you see.
Yes, sir.
We are here.
It's a boy.
He was found naked.
They say he looks like he was tortured.
I have two kids myself.
It makes me sick.
It's been here a while.
What's a while?
Week. Two.
It could be anyone from the orphanage.
Perhaps he has a twin.
A brother would be good
for identification.
Excuse me, General.
How old is he, about eight?
Eight years old?
He has blood in his eyes.
See? Is blood.
Hemorrhaging.
You see it in strangulations.
But look at his neck.
He has no track marks on his throat.
So, what else can cause that?
You also see it in drownings.
Drowning. Yes.
Do you see any water around here?
About 6 kilometers east.
The river in Tobol.
6 kilometers.
So, a drowned boy walks 6 kilometers?
This is little boy.
Look, you see this cut here?
It seems purposeful, no?
They are. Someone knew their anatomy.
Organs have been removed.
And so you say organs have been
removed from this child's body?
So it's what? We look for butcher?
- We look for a hunter?
- More like a surgeon.
More like surgeon?
More like a surgeon.
Will you excuse us?
Why are you here?
A child was murdered in Moscow...
- What are you doing here?
- Water came out of his mouth.
- Same as this child!
- Are you still working for the MGB?
- No, I'm not MGB.
- I think you are.
Why are you here? Why are these children
so important to Moscow?
Believe me, these children
are not important to Moscow.
Whatever it is
you've been sent here to do...
remember, you are not in Moscow anymore.
Here, we have an arrangement.
If you do anything to endanger my team.
If you report anything
which undermines my authority.
If you portray my officers
as incompetent.
If you do any of these things...
I will kill you myself.
General Nesterov!
He has identification papers.
Isaac Rudensky.
From the Gorsky School in Oblast X.
Where exactly is Oblast X?
50 kilometers east.
Seven stations down the line.
General, if he came by train,
maybe the ticket master
will recall seeing him with someone.
Perhaps.
Where's the ticket master?
Aleksander. He's over there.
Aleksander,
when you found the body last night,
you were taking a walk, you say?
What's wrong?
What? Are you okay?
Or perhaps you were...
doing something else?
Get in.
Now.
- Yes?
- Put her on the phone.
Yes?
So, Raisa, I've been thinking.
Vasili.
You're getting a very bad deal here.
You know?
I mean, for all these years,
good little mousewife and...
look at where you find yourself.
Vasili, you know me.
What have I done?
My point exactly.
So here's what I propose.
These guys will put you
on the next train to Moscow,
and you can have your old job back.
I will personally find you
a nice little place to live.
Assuming, of course, you wouldn't rather
move into your old apartment...
with me.
Leave Leo.
Come on, Raisa, you never fooled me.
All you ever wanted from him
was his head in a basket.
No.
No?
No.
Okay. In that case...
You see that bald guy in a blue suit?
Yes.
You know what would be really nice?
No.
Give him the phone.
Wh... what?
Give him the phone.
Raisa?
Where are you going?
Where are you going?
- Away.
- Away?
- Yes.
- Listen to me, listen to me.
Whatever you feel about me,
whatever is going on,
whatever you are thinking,
we are here now. That is it.
This is where we find ourselves.
There is nothing that we can do about this.
I would rather spend a lifetime
in a shithole like this with you
than spend one minute
in Moscow without you.
Say that to someone
who doesn't know you.
What are you gonna do without papers?
Did you forget something?
- Yes, you forget these?
- Give me my papers.
You know what happens to a woman
like you without papers?
She gets stopped. She gets arrested.
She gets questioned.
Then guess what happens.
Give me my papers.
Don't you ever do that again.
Ever. Do you...
So I'm your prisoner now?
Like everybody else?
You want to kill me?
You had your chance in Moscow.
The dinner we had with your parents.
I heard you when I came in the hallway.
Your beloved father
was pretty convincing.
"Four lives against one." I just
stood there hearing him over and over.
"Four lives against one.
Four lives against one."
What about four lives against two?
Would you be so quick
to kill your own child?
What do you mean by that?
What are you saying?
Raisa, what do you mean by this?
Why you say that?
No.
No, no, you...
You're not pregnant?
I'm not pregnant.
Are you saying you're not pregnant?
Would you have stood up
for me if I wasn't?
I didn't want to die, Leo.
Why are you saying this?
Why?
That story you love so much.
When we first met.
And I lied and I said
that my name was Lena.
"Lena, Lena, Lena." So romantic.
I gave you a false name
because you had MGB written
all over you, and I was terrified.
When you asked me to marry you,
I cried for one week.
And then I said "yes."
I married you out of fear for what
would happen to me if I said "no."
You don't mean that.
I married you
because that's what people do.
They put up. They tolerate.
They do whatever they need
to do to survive.
"Marry me," you said.
What choice did I have?
What choice did I have?
Homosexuality...
is a serious crime.
Please, just say...
What do you want?
A list of men in this town
who have had sex with other men.
What?
Men who have had sex with younger men.
With boys.
What?
Fifteen years in the Gulag
is a long time.
Even if you survive the camps,
you'll be disgraced.
Please, just tell me what to do.
If you open the door for us,
maybe your... issue
can remain a secret.
Just a few names, Aleksander.
Leo.
Were you followed?
Are you sure?
What are you doing here?
You tell me.
What are you doing here?
Aleksander could not have
killed this boy.
It's not possible.
When I saw Jora,
he had the same cuts and marks
as this child.
Whoever killed this little boy,
killed Alexei's child, too. I know it.
It's the truth.
Just have to prove it.
I must.
I have to. I have to prove it.
Leo, do you know what people get
around here when they demand the truth?
Do you?
They get terror.
Raisa, we are already dead.
Come inside.
The killer, he's a traveler.
We found a little boy
10 minutes' walk from the track.
I'm thinking how else could he get here,
if it was not for train?
- And then the boy in Moscow.
- Again with Moscow.
This boy in Moscow is the son
of a very good friend of mine.
My brother.
I was sent to his house
to read official report.
I had to tell his family that his son
died of tragic accident. And I lied.
So I'm thinking, how many
more children have to die?
Get swept under the carpet.
Covered up by party dogs like you and I.
And their blood is on our hands.
And this animal, he will not
stop killing. This will not stop.
- He will keep killing and killing.
- Enough!
- What do you want?
- Me? I would like to stop him.
- A ghost.
- Ghost? No, it's not ghost.
Describe him to me then.
I can't.
I can't describe him. But...
there is a witness.
I must go back to Moscow
and speak with her.
And you must gather the records of all
dead children from Moscow to Leningrad.
Me?
And why would I do that for you?
Inessa, your boys,
do they walk to school by themselves?
Normally, yes. But this week,
with those poor children,
either myself or...
And from here to school, it seems
the shortest way is through the forest.
Is that the way they go?
Usually.
But again, this week,
the way through town seems safer.
Yes, of course.
But now... now that the killer
has been caught,
will they be going through the forest
by themself tomorrow as usual?
Morning.
Morning.
Where are you headed to today?
Nowhere.
Just waiting to buy some stamps.
But the kiosk isn't open yet.
Collect stamps?
Used to be a collector
when I was your age.
Tell me, do you take care
of your collection?
Yes.
I have a son.
About your age.
Very messy boy.
He could care less about stamps.
As for me,
just don't have the time
for them anymore.
Maybe you should give them to someone
to take care of them for you.
Yes.
I bet you like sweets, don't you?
I made them myself.
Dark ones are the best.
Good?
General Nesterov.
You know, Moscow is growing suspicious
of you summoning me like this.
- I demand to...
- Bring me all files...
involving the death of children
between the ages of 9 and 15.
- Yes, sir.
- Everything you have.
- Yes.
- And pray that they're all there.
Stop crying. Sniveling shit!
You four-eyed little pig.
Oh, yes.
A toast, mewling, sniveling little pig.
One more time, to Joseph Stalin!
Father to us all!
There is a situation in Rostov.
What situation?
A boy has been discovered
near the train station.
They think he was attacked by a wolf.
All children... ages 9 to 14.
All found in forests, parks,
by the train lines.
Naked and either marked...
for cuts or with cuts.
Drowned.
When they bothered
to examine the remains,
every one of them solved by arrest.
Forty-three in all.
Forty-four.
My friend's son was murdered, too.
And there's a...
a new one in Rostov.
I'm heading there tomorrow.
Rostov.
I have to go to Moscow.
I need you to come with me.
I cannot protect you
if you stay here alone.
I don't need your protection anymore.
If you come with me to Moscow,
then I promise you,
you have my word that I will do anything
and everything that you want.
Whatever it is you ask.
If you want to leave Volsk, if you want
to leave me, if you want to leave.
You never ever even
have to see me again.
I promise. You may have my word.
Tomorrow morning, you'll have your
identity papers for the train to Moscow.
I've granted you a walking holiday.
That'll explain your absence from here.
What are you doing here, Leo?
You're not supposed to be here.
Alexei, it's about your son.
He was murdered.
You've come to the wrong address.
No boy was murdered here.
No, no, no. I've made a mistake.
It's not true. It's not true.
I was wrong.
I was wrong, you were right.
I have the papers here. His...
His death certificate says
much more than we know of.
- Look.
- From Moscow train station
all the way down the train tracks
to Rostov. It's very serious.
And if you find this man, Leo,
- what will you do?
- I bring him to justice.
- You will bring him to justice?
- Da.
You're nobody anymore, Leo.
You're nobody.
How you gonna bring him to justice?
Just the two of you?
Is this a joke?
Leo, if you really wanna help,
you find this man
and you cut his head off!
Can you do that?
Yes.
For you, Alexei, I will do this.
But if I do that,
then nobody will ever know.
Please.
Nina, we need to see the witness.
How can I help? I don't know anything.
Listen, Galina,
the man that killed my son,
he's still out there,
killing other children,
do you understand?
Nobody, nobody can get into any trouble
by simply describing what a worker
looked like on his way to work.
Do you understand? It's not possible.
He's here, talking to you. I'm here.
I guarantee you I am no threat.
You have my word.
Look at me. I have no uniform.
I promise you, you are safe
to speak to me, so please.
It was dark.
- Yes?
- Please.
Galina! What's going on?
Galina! Who are you talking to?
Please, whisper to me.
What did he look like?
We are just making conversation.
There is no problem here. Please.
- Get out of my house!
- Calm down. Please, calm down. Take it easy.
Easy? You want easy? You want easy?
- Raisa, I have to go.
- Please, you must remember something.
Get out!
Are you on your own?
Does your mother know where you are?
Is that heavy?
It's heavier than it looks.
I could carry it.
All right then. Up you get.
Let's see what you're made of.
Hello!
Son, you're getting far too heavy
for me to carry.
- Hi.
- Hello, sweetheart.
- What did I tell you?
- I wanted to meet Daddy.
What are you worried about?
He's with me.
Come on.
In the war,
Hitler left hidden revenge squads
all the way back to the Rhine.
I saw what those German soldiers
were capable of.
Is there anything else?
He fed them...
special drugs...
to make them addicted
to the blood of children.
Now it's all coming to a head.
Nine children around here...
found like Artur in the past two years.
Nine?
That bloody monster is still killing us.
Even from his grave.
Sorry for your loss.
I'm sorry for your loss.
All citizens are required
to show proper identification.
The station is temporarily
under MGB jurisdiction.
All citizens are required
to show proper identification.
The station is temporarily
under MGB jurisdiction.
I think it's not good. It's not good.
We can't go this way.
We have to find another way.
I think I know someone who can help us.
I don't like this. I don't like him.
I don't trust him.
But I do.
We all thought you'd been arrested.
Or worse.
Leo refused to denounce me.
Why did you refuse?
She's my wife.
You traveled all the way back to Moscow
at, I assume, great personal risk.
Why?
You see...
each of these children
have been murdered
over the past several years and...
each of these individual cases
has been solved by the state.
The perpetrators dealt with.
But if you look very closely...
and examine the children, they have...
all been killed in a similar manner.
So what you're saying is
somebody is responsible for this?
Absolutely.
And this somebody is still out there.
Yes.
A murderer.
- You're saying there's a murderer?
- Without doubt.
You do realize there are
no murderers in paradise?
So you two are working
together now? As what?
Outraged citizens?
Sort of. Yes.
Going to capture
this troll by yourselves?
Somebody has to.
Ivan, look at these pictures.
Do you see?
These children. Look. This is real.
Look at these names, those documents.
The documents. Let's carefully
examine the documents.
- Yes.
- With all these names.
- All these... All these children.
- Ivan!
- Who is in charge of these wrongdoings?
- Ivan!
All right, all right, all right.
All right.
You are making me nervous.
- Close the curtains.
- All right.
Thank you.
Look.
I know someone who, if he's willing,
- can get you out of the city.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Ivanov.
You have telephone?
They forgot to remove it
when the last tenant died.
I keep it hidden. Disconnected.
Save for emergencies.
Do you have many emergencies?
I have many problems.
Here we go.
Professor Zalman?
Are you free at the moment?
- Could you come to the apartment?
- I don't know why he has this.
There was an incident in school.
I don't know. He shouldn't have this.
Yes, immediately, if possible.
I'm afraid time is of the essence.
Thank you, Professor.
Hello? Professor?
Leo! Leo, wait!
I don't know why he has it.
Leo, wait.
Leo, please.
Leo, please, stop this!
Traitorous scum.
We should have killed you both.
I'm sorry. I truly thought...
Thought what? That he wasn't
fishing with his books?
That he wasn't MGB?
Don't be sorry. He couldn't draw you in
if he wasn't doing his job properly.
Listen...
I made you a promise.
Now you don't have to stay with me.
Do you understand?
I'm coming with you.
What?
That guy.
He can't read.
Thank you, sir.
Did you find your witness?
Moscow was a complete wash.
Well, forget Moscow.
We go towards Rostov.
It's the heart of this, I'm sure.
All kill routes passing through.
Plus twice the number of children
murdered there than anywhere else.
And I believe he works and kills
along the two train lines.
What is the connection
between Volsk and Rostov?
There are no murders east of here.
This may be his end point.
But what is here for him?
The GAZ factory?
The GAZ factory.
- And what's in Rostov for the factory?
- The Rostov tractor factory.
So it's likely he works there.
We find his job...
and we find him.
Hello, Leo.
You miss me?
Some people just don't learn, I guess.
I'd like a word in private.
Inessa.
I understand your...
desire to stay loyal to him.
My point being, it will be better
if you told me everything immediately.
Would it make any difference?
Of course.
You're a monster.
Raisa, I hope you understand
you leave me no choice.
Leo, what did they do to you?
Leo! Please, Leo.
Leo.
Leo. Leo, please.
Leo! Listen to me. You have to wake up.
Leo! Leo, please! Leo! Leo!
Leo!
Leo!
Are you all right?
We need to get off this train.
It was a guard.
That man behind the door.
He gave them the knife.
We must get off this train.
Jump, Raisa, now! Jump!
Go.
It's impossible. The arrangements
were made last minute.
There's no paper trail.
No one able to preplan.
No one even knew
which transport they were on.
You did.
Didn't you?
Listen to me, you.
I promise you something.
If my time is up, so is yours.
You wanted his desk?
Then take the weight that comes with it.
Alexei...
tell me why Leo was arrested.
See, the bosses believe that he
was working for the West, but...
I believe he was working on this.
Series of child murders, you see?
Your son, may he rest in peace,
- he was murdered, yes?
- No.
He was killed in an accident.
But at first you believed
he was murdered, right?
Sit down.
At first, yes, I did.
But, you see, I was... I was upset.
But... so when he came back to Moscow,
it wasn't your son's murder
he was interested in?
Well...
I don't... All I'm saying is that...
that if my son's death was Leo's
reason to return to Moscow,
he never contacted me.
Is that how little you think of me?
I don't think anything of you.
You think you can save Leo?
You can't save Leo, Alexei.
You know that, right?
But you can still save your family.
My family survives, Vasili.
If I may ask you,
where exactly did they escape?
Come here.
It's right here. Near Vladimir.
Well...
seems that the earliest incidents
were all around this area.
The highest concentration
around Rostov-on-Don.
My guess is that this man,
this child murderer, he lives there.
If I was Leo,
I would be heading to Rostov.
Is that all?
That's all.
- Rostov factory.
- Leo, we're here.
Stay with me.
I'll have to find a way
into the records office.
- If I'm not back in half an hour...
- You will be.
Wait here.
Where are you going?
You! Turn around.
Put your hands against the wall.
Hands on the fucking wall. Don't move.
What's your name?
Sergei.
Okay, Sergei, listen to me.
You do exactly as I say. Da?
Exactly as I say.
Just relax.
Slow down.
What do you sell here in your factory?
What do you make?
- The tractor parts.
- Tractor parts?
Yes.
Up your stairs.
Open the door.
Get inside.
Give me your keys.
Sit down. Put your hands
where I can see them.
- What do you want?
- I want you to sit down.
And put your hands where I can see them.
Sergei, listen very carefully.
I have here...
some documents.
And on these documents there are areas
and there are dates
in these columns. You see?
I need you to find me the controller
who has visited these areas
in this column,
in or on or around these dates here
in this column. Do you understand?
- I understand.
- I need you to find him now.
Okay now. May I?
Of course.
Yes, Major Kuzmin.
So where are you with this?
And don't fill my ear with shit.
Nothing. They're idiots here.
I'm surrounded by idiots.
I'm tired of your excuses, Vasili.
Just find them, or it's both our necks.
Fifty-two.
Yes, I think I got it.
- This one.
- Are you sure?
I hope. I am sure.
Sit down. Put your hands
where I can see them.
Raisa.
Sir. At the tractor factory. A man
was attacked in the administration office.
What happened?
It's just some
employment files were stolen.
They're here.
That's his car. He knows.
Please, be careful.
Leo. There's somebody up there.
- Stay here.
- Leo, be careful.
You have come.
Brings back memories, doesn't it?
These woods and banks.
Scrounging for... grub.
Rat.
Cat if we were lucky.
Always so hungry.
Some of us even ate each other.
The weaker ones.
I know who you are, Demidov.
I know you were in an orphanage,
just like me.
Who in the whole country
does not know that?
How the war redeemed you.
Made you into a hero.
Some of us were not so lucky.
I was a surgeon in the army.
But no matter.
At the end of the day,
hero,
monster...
We are both killers, you and I.
Tell me...
are there no children
on your conscience, Leo?
You knew what you were doing
and you chose to do it.
But me,
I can't help it.
I can't.
Drop the gun, Leo. Drop it.
Get up here.
Get down.
You know, this...
this reminds me of that...
of that farmer, Okun.
Was he innocent, Leo?
Are you innocent?
Are you?
Please... please.
My big brother.
Always telling me
what's right and wrong.
- I never wanted this, Leo.
- Please.
- Never.
- Please.
Don't look at me. Don't look at me.
Vasili!
Son of a bitch!
Leo!
Fucking bitch!
Leo!
Leo!
Vasili!
God.
Halt!
Officer,
this man...
this man is a criminal.
Your superior officer, he...
he died while trying to apprehend him.
This man... this man is a hero.
This officer is hero!
Congratulations on your reinstatement.
Major Kuzmin was arrested
yesterday, you know.
- Yes, I heard.
- He was an old guard appointee.
- We live in new times, Demidov.
- Yes, I have heard.
I've been authorized
to offer you a promotion.
In the new state security organization.
And a clear path to a political role,
should you want it.
- Please.
- No, please.
I am good standing. Feels fine.
Vlad Malevich.
Pravda labeled him
"The Werewolf of Rostov."
Werewolf?
We discovered he spent two years
in a German camp during the war.
Now anybody who survives two years
in that situation must have been turned.
Obviously, we repatriated a Nazi agent.
Wouldn't you agree?
It's possible.
But was he not brought up
in a Russian orphanage, no?
We believe he was trained to take
revenge on us for their defeat.
They wanted the Russian people
to believe that our society
could produce such a monster.
Whereas, obviously, he was corrupted
and transformed by his time in the West.
Was that not your thinking, Demidov?
- It is very difficult.
- Difficult? Why difficult?
No, it's very difficult
to ascertain exactly...
which society is responsible for causing
Vlad Malevich to become what he was.
Bullshit.
Sir, if I may, I wish to refuse your offer
and make a request of my own.
Really?
Go on.
I want to create and take charge
of Moscow homicide department.
And what need is there
of such a department?
As you said,
murder has been used before
to tear us down from within.
And Vlad Malevich?
Vlad Malevich, I would say
returned home
with a poisoned foreign heart.
Without doubt. Absolutely.
Good.
Just one thing I would like to ask you.
General Nesterov...
I would also like him
to work for this department.
I believe that his skills and ability
in matters of this kind
are exemplary.
I found them.
Would you like to see them?
Yes, please.
They are in the waiting room.
This way, please.
- Please.
- Da.
Please.
Hello.
This is my wife Raisa. She's a...
she's a teacher.
She teaches children.
Hello.
Elena, Tamara.
Why don't we all sit down?
It's much nicer sitting down.
Da.
We would like, if you want,
to give you a home. Our home.
Yes.
You came to our farm.
I mean, yes.
Yes, I did. I did. But...
We wanna look after you.
Take care of you.
As my husband said,
I can teach you how to read...
write. We can go to parks.
We have friends.
- There are a lot of things we can do.
- I can't bring your parents back.
I can't. I can't do that.
It's not possible.
I would like to.
Of course, I would. But I can't.
And I am sorry. I am truly very sorry.
We won't take you,
if you don't want to come with us.
- We can find you another family.
- Yes.
We promise you.
We won't leave you here.
Now we will go out for a walk
and you can think about it.
And then take your time.
Raisa.
Do you think that...
that I am...
That I am...
truly a frightful man?
You think that maybe I am...
a monster?
No.
No?