In the footsteps of a murderer The film uses documents from declassified case No. 430 and archival materials of STASI (Ministry of State Security of the GDR)
The 16-year-old shot twice in the back of a little girl and threw her into a deep mine where she was supposed to end her barely begun life. When the tiny body of the victim slipped from the mound, the guy stuck the gun in the shin of the boot and soon forgot about the massacre of the child, because for him it became a normal routine, a kind of dirty work, when your hands are always up to the elbow in blood. Only now the unfortunate was able to survive and many years after the end of the war, she identified her executioner and murderer as a bystander.
From that moment, work began for the criminal investigation officers, who began to set traps on the former punisher of the secret field police, which was always under the supervision of the Gestapo. To capture the traitor were involved archivists, committee members, state security and other agencies, whose duties included the capture and punishment of war criminals. One of these was Alex Lyuty, aka Alexander Yukhnovsky, he was met on the Soviet streets by that surviving woman, in whose childhood there was a real nightmare.
Her story ended only when the handcuffs were snapped on the torturer’s hands and he was taken to a detention cell, where he was given a fair sentence. And it should be noted that this episode is very indicative for those who do not believe in justice. Decades later, the criminal got what he deserved, and the whole process of his capture formed the basis of a short report by Anton Grishin, who decided to shed light on the once secret operation. Now the seal of secrecy has been removed almost entirely, and therefore everyone can be involved in the calculations from documents, eyewitness accounts and the main results of the past.
“No appeal” – this name is quite capacious for what the viewer can see on the screen. In short, we are silently witnessing how many people during the occupation began to serve the Germans and do unthinkable things to those who were not so long ago their neighbor, friend or brother. Hundreds of thousands of atrocities, murders, massacres and violence against weak women, children, teenagers and the elderly occurred in those bitter and cruel days when civilians were under the boot of a Nazi soldier. The result of the atrocities is obvious - someone from the henchmen was executed right on the spot, but someone was able to avoid such a fate.
It’s part of our history, we have to accept it as it is. But we have no right to forget what the punishers, traitors and policemen did. Alex Lyuty is only a small part of what the criminal investigation officers faced in the postwar years, when they stepped on the heels of thousands of murderers with the risk of life, just to bring them to trial and punishment. Do not think that Lutoy was caught quickly and spectacularly, this happens only in the movies. In fact, the operation carried out all the measures that precede the capture. Identification, questioning of witnesses, extraction of archival documents, interdepartmental red tape, etc.
Anton Grishin in a short time, step by step, word by word, leads us to the fact that one way or another, but the criminal investigation pinned a traitor at the nail, who confessed to hundreds of murders. This will not be a spoiler, as it is fashionable to say now, because there is no escape from facts and reality. Perhaps such a small short master gives us the opportunity not to repeat such mistakes in the future and begin to appreciate human life. I would very much like such barbarism and psychosis in relation to civilians to remain in the past and be forgotten forever. The patience and endurance of the Soviet state bodies can only be admired, because it was they who tracked down and imprisoned a real beast.
P.S. In the initial and final credits, the authors made a spelling error, the word “investigator” was written through the letter a. It seems like an annoying little thing, but still somehow unprofessional.
7 out of 10