Russia has gone ahead and banned the release of the movie Child 44 just one day before it was slated to be officially released in its country.The film was all set for release on April 17, but it has been stopped because the Russian culture ministry has described it as “the distortion of historical facts and interpretations of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War [World War II]”Child 44, written by Richard Price is based on Tom Rob Smith’s novel- the story of a serial killer with a special interest in children on the loose. It was set in post-World War II Russia, a year before Stalin’s death. Tom Hardy plays the role of an investigator whose work is constantly hampered by efforts from the Government officials who are hell bent on covering up these crimes and pretending they never occurred to begin with, according to EuroNews.Russia’s culture minister Vladimir Medinsky criticised the film for falsely depicting the horrors of the Stalin regime, but the Ministry itself has been guilty of distorting history. As a part of a series of efforts to restore Stalin’s reputation, Russia has been trying to portray him as a builder of the Russian nation and as the architect of victory over the Nazis. Nobody wants to remember him as the man who presided over the deaths of millions of his fellow countrymen. These efforts also include the culture ministry taking over the only museum at a Stalin-era labour camp, and shifting the focus of its exhibits- away from the lives of the captors.(Image courtesy: Child44 Facebook page)