In an unprecedented move , Russia has cancelled the release of a Hollywood thriller set in the Stalin era - claiming it distorts history and would air as the country celebrates its victory over Nazi Germany . The film , 'Child 44 ' , starring Tom Hardy , Vincent Cassel and Gary Oldman , tells the story of a serial killer who targets children in the Stalin era . It is based on a novel by British writer Tom Rob Smith and was due to premiere in Russia today . Scroll down for video . Russian authorities have cancelled the release of Child 44 , starring Gary Oldman ( left ) and Tom Hardy . The Hollywood blockbuster tells the story of a serial killer who targets children in Stalin era Russia . Russia 's culture ministry said the film distorted history as it celebrated its victory over Nazi Germany . Russia 's culture ministry said the film 's distributors in Russia , Central Partnership , had agreed to withdraw a request for a distribution licence after ministry officials viewed the film . 'Films such as 'Child 44 ' should not go out in our country on mass release , earning money from our cinema audiences , not in the year of the 70th anniversary of victory , not ever , ' Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky wrote on the ministry 's website . The move to effectively ban a major mainstream Hollywood film just a day before it was due to premiere is unprecedented . In recent years , Russia has cracked down harshly on negative depictions of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era , while criticism of those who fought in the Second World War is taboo . The culture ministry accused the film of 'distortion of historical facts and the idiosyncratic treatment of events before , during and after ' the war . The film is set in 1952 , a year before Stalin 's death , and features a maverick investigator seeking a serial killer , while hindered by official attitudes that such murders are not possible in the Soviet Union . Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky ( pictured ) condemned the film for its depiction of the horrors of the Stalin regime . 'You realise murder is strictly a capitalist disease , ' French star Cassel hisses in a thick Russian accent in the film 's English-language trailer . Culture minister Medinsky slammed the film for its depiction of the horrors of the Stalin regime and said it misrepresented a country that was 'one of the world leaders ' . The film shows Soviet Army officers as 'blood-thirsty ghouls ' randomly shooting people , 'especially gays , ' Medinsky complained . Soviet women have to offer them sexual favours or 'be sent , as is customary , to the Gulag , ' he added with heavy irony . The decision to pull the film came after the culture ministry on Tuesday gave it a distribution licence with an 18+ certificate . The head of Central Partnership , Pavel Stepanov , issued a statement saying he was 'satisfied ' with the film 's ban . 'We consider it 's important in the future to increase state control over distribution of films that have a socially significant context , ' he said . On Tuesday , Kultura state-funded arts newspaper , whose editor is a member of President Vladimir Putin 's arts council , published a review of the film titled '44 shades of vileness . ' 'Daniel Espinosa 's film is made up of lies and spitting at Russia and Russians , ' it wrote . Earlier this year the outspoken culture minister voiced his dislike of Russian art-house film 'Leviathan , ' despite its landmark victory at the Golden Globes and Oscar nomination , complaining it was full of 'existentialist hopelessness . ' Last month he sacked the head of a theatre in Siberia after its radical staging of a Wagner opera including images of Jesus Christ angered some Orthodox believers .
Russian authorities have cancelled the release of Hollywood 's Child 44 . The blockbuster film stars Tom Hardy , Gary Oldman and Vincent Cassel . It depicts a private investigator attempting to hunt down a serial child killer . Comment: