Child 44

Child 44 is a 2015 American-British mystery thriller film directed by Daniel Espinosa, written by Richard Price, produced by Ridley Scott and based on Tom Rob Smith's novel 2008 novel of the same name. The film stars Tom Hardy, Gary Oldman, Noomi Rapace, Joel Kinnaman, Paddy Considine, Jason Clarke, and Vincent Cassel. It was released on April 17, 2015.

Plot
Set during Stalin's Soviet Union rule, disgraced MGB Agent Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) is tasked with investigating a strange and brutal series of child murders.

Cast

 * Tom Hardy as Leo Demidov
 * Noomi Rapace as Raisa Demidova
 * Joel Kinnaman as Vasili Nikitin
 * Gary Oldman as General Timur Nesterov
 * Vincent Cassel as Doctor Zurabin
 * Jason Clarke as Anatoly Brodsky
 * Josef Altin as Alexander
 * Sam Spruell as Doctor Tyapkin
 * Ned Dennehy as The Coroner
 * Fares Fares as Alexei Andreyev
 * Nikolaj Lie Kaas as Ivan Sukov
 * Anna Rust as Sasha
 * Xavier Atkins as Pavel
 * Sonny Ashbourne Serkis as Artur
 * Kevin Clarke as MGB Agent
 * Petr Vanek as Fyodor
 * Rowntree Max as Andrej
 * David Bowles
 * Michael Nardone as Semyon Okun
 * Fedja Stukan as Sergei
 * Anssi Lindström as Alexander Pickup
 * Harmon Joseph as Vadim
 * Charles Dance as Major Janusz Kuzmin
 * Tara Fitzgerald as Inessa Nesterov
 * Samuel Buttery as Varlan Babinic
 * Agnieszka Grochowska as Nina Andreeva

Production
Principal photography began in June 2013 in Prague, Ostrava, Kladno Czech Republic.

Release
On April 15, 2015 the film distributor "Central Partnership" announced that the film would be removed from cinemas in Russia, although some mass media stated that the screening was blocked by the Russian ministry of culture. The decision was made after the preview the day before. Ministry of culture of Russia and the company made a joint press release stating that the screening of the film before the 70th anniversary of the Victory Day is unacceptable. Ministry of culture claimed that it has received several question on the film's contents, primarily concerining "distortion of historical facts, peculiar treatment of events before, during and after the Great Patriotic War and images and characters of Soviet people of that era". Russian minister of culture Vladimir Medinsky welcomed the decision but stressed that it was made solely by the "Central Partnership". The minister compared depiction of Soviet Union in the film with J. R. R. Tolkien's Mordor and wished that such films should be screened neither before the 70th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War, nor any other time.

The movie was prohibited from screens in Belarus too.