Russia’s Culture Ministry bans release of an American movie in the country

Russia’s culture ministry deems it inadmissible to release Child 44 before the 70th anniversary of the Victory in the Great Patriotic War.

“On Apr 14, after watching the film experts, journalists and representatives of the Ministry and the Russian distributor of the film, Central Partnership, expressed unanimity that it could not be released before the May 9 celebrations,” the press service of the Ministry says.

According to the source, the film distorts historical facts, misinterprets the events that took place before, during and after the Great Patriotic War (1941-1945) and mispresents the characters of those times.

As a result, Central Partnership has decided to withdraw its request to permit it to screen Child 44 in Russia despite any commercial consequences.

Child 44 by Daniel Espinosa is a story about some Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy), an orphan who survives Holodomor of 1933 and raises the Banner of Victory on the Reichstag building in Berlin, is a security officer. After his wife, Raisa (Noomi Rapace) is listed as public enemy, he is demoted and sent to Volsk, where he starts investigating a series of child murders.