Russia Blocks Tom Hardy Movie

Government says “Child 44” makes the country look like “a sort of Mordor”

The Russian government has blocked the release of “Child 44,” the new thriller starring Tom Hardy, a day ahead of its release in the country.

Based on the novel by Tom Rob Smith, Hardy stars as a Soviet police officer investigating a series of child murders in 1953. His efforts are hampered by Russian officials who do not want word of the murders to leak.

In a statement, Russian Culture Minister Vladimir Medinsky said the film makes the country look like “a sort of Mordor.”

“That is how our country is shown, the country that has just won a great war, become a global leader and was close to launching the first human into space,” Medinsky said.

Representatives for Hardy declined to comment.

Relations between Russia and the West have been chilly of late. After Ukrainian president Viktor Yanukovych chose to forego European Union membership and pursue closer ties with Russia, protests broke out across the country in early 2014.

After Yanukovych was removed from office, Russia refused to recognize the interim Ukranian government and annexed the Crimean Peninsula, a large part of southern Ukraine, in March 2014.

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