Cruelty (Russian: Жестокость, romanized: Zhestokost) is a 1959 Soviet dramatic film directed by Vladimir Skuybin and written by Pavel Nilin.

[1][2][a] Set in the vicinity of a small Siberian town, the film centers around a brutal gang led by the character Kostya Vorontsov.

In one of the clashes with the bandits, the deputy head of the investigation, Veniamin Malyshev (a Komsomol member of the Civil War) is seriously wounded.

Having ascertained during the interrogation that the gangster did not intend to help the policemen, the head of the criminal investigation department proposes to shoot the enemy.

A complex drama of character unfolds and ends with the suicide of Malyshev, who believes that it is impossible to live with a lie.