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Ivan the Terrible film 'slanders Russia' and should be banned, historian says

Vyacheslav Manyagin has asked Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to outlaw the film, which he claims is an insult to Russian statehood.

The blockbuster, released earlier this month, has triggered an ill-tempered debate in religious and historical circles at a time when the Kremlin is encouraging Russians to take patriotic pride in their often brutal history...

... "Imagine that they made a film in America about George Washington in which the first US president was portrayed as a bloodthirsty maniac," Mr Manyagin said. "This film slanders the Russian people and state."

The "unjust" depiction of Russia's first tsar as a monster would fuel Western stereotypes about modern Russia, he added...
Read entire article at Telegraph (UK)