What happens when a film that is meant to highlight the struggles of children (and indeed a whole nation) runs the risk of perhaps putting children at risk? This happens to be the debate over this weekend's release of the film adaptation of the best selling book The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, a film that focuses on the lives of two Afghani boys in the 1970s whose friendship is tested by ethnic and religious strife.

One of the pivotal scenes in the movie is when a Pashtun boy, Amir, fails to act when he witnesses the rape of his Hazara friend Hassan. Because of this scene, the father of the actor who plays Hassan has criticized the movie for putting their family at risk. "The people of Afghanistan do not understand that it's only acting or playing a role in a film," said the father, who withheld his name for his own protection. His son, who is now 13, has also begun to publicly express concern over his rape scene in the film. "We won't be able to walk in our neighborhood or in Afghanistan at all," he said. Mounting concern over the safety of the two child actors (and their families) forced Paramount studios to delay the release of the film and to relocate the two actors and their families to an unnamed city in the United Arab Emirates.

But to what extent did the actors, or their families, know about the rape scene? The father of the actor that plays Hassan claims he did not know about it. "In Afghanistan, rape is not acceptable at all. This is against Afghan dignity. This is against Afghan culture," the father said. "When we argued, they said 'We will cut this part of the film. We will take it out of the script. This part will not be in the film." But the film's producers, Bennett Walsh and Rebecca Yeldham, contest this version of the story.

"When we visited with all the actors and their families in Kabul earlier this year, the families addressed their concerns directly with us and said they were fine with the content of the scene, as long as we portrayed it in a sensitive manner," Walsh and Yeldham told the Associated Press. "We made this a priority and followed their specific instructions." For the book's author, who hails from Afghanistan and is now a Goodwill Envoy for the UN Refugee Agency, respecting the concerns of the child actors was of paramount concern.

"I thought it would raise eyebrows, but if anybody, either me or in the production, thought it would lead to the actors actually fearing for their lives, I don't think anyone would have gone forward. Certainly, they would not have cast actors from Afghanistan," he said. Hosseini sees the charged atmosphere over the film's release as a barometer of how much things have gotten worse over the past few years. "The controversy reflects that things in Afghanistan have changed to some extent, certainly in the last year or two. Things have become more violent. It's a more dangerous place than it was. It has slid back, and there's a new element of criminality and violence there."

Others involved in the film have been equally surprised. "Kite Runner" director Marc Forster, who is also slated to direct the next James Bond film, was surprised by the reaction because of the book's popularity and universal praise. "It's a book that sold 8 million copies around the world and what makes me sad is ...it's a story which doesn't deal with violence and terrorism in that part of the world. It deals with healing. It deals with forgiveness," he said. "So I really didn't think there would be a controversy." But with no ebb to the violence, it is a luxury to view the film outside the context of the daily violence or the ethnic conflicts that continue to plague the country.

Despite the controversy, the author feels that keeping the rape scene in the film is critical. "I don't see how you could maintain the integrity of the film if you removed the scene. You'd pretty much have to scrap the whole thing," remarked Hossaini. "The scene is pivotal. Without it the story falls apart because, in many ways, that moment, the act in the alley, is so reprehensible -- a simple punching wouldn't have the same effect."

However in a country with a high illiteracy rate like Afghanistan, many people's first exposure of the story will be through Forster's camera and not Hosseini's words. Nevertheless, some are confident that the essential story - and its virtues - will still shine through. The film's screen writer, David Benioff, remains optimistic. "My fervent hope - insha'allah, as they say in the story - is people will see it as a story of healing, of redemption."

I just purchased the book today so I am going to read this article another time :-)

i have read the book. remarkable achievement from an afgan american.
moved me tremendously by its story telling and human drama set
in a region i never got a chance to go while working in muslim countries in that area.

as a foreigner and non-muslim, i can confidently say that the whole afganistan region is a wild and lawless land populated by cave-man laws and traditions that pre-date islam and have very little to do with anything good that islam may have brought in the 6th century.

sometimes, i wonder if we had let the russians rule afganistan?
and charlie wilson would not have stepped in and made it his war to
drive the soviets out of afganistan...would be a whole different world today, i am sure.

no amount of foreign western interference or influence i think can change that place or people and their ways. i really think we should just leave afgans alone, and let them evolve like so many other people have over centuries, by fighting it out by themselves

george

This book is the best thing I've read in the last 5 years. Its a very powerful and evocative story about two kids living in Afghanistan during the 70's, experiencing the unraveling of the former Afghanistan government during the Afghan-Russian war and later witnessing the pseudo Taliban government that was established afterwards. But this book isn't political-its really a story about family, loyalty and secrecy.

As this article contends, their is detail of a rape which persists in the book as well as the movie. And as the author has said, its imperative that it be told both on paper and on the screen for it plays a vital part. I think if you were to delete the scene, it would be sacraficing from the emotional connection the viewer has with the film as well as the reader has from the book. I just hope that Muslims, especially Afghanis realize that this is a fictional book and despite denials that such horrid incidents could ever take place in their society, reality tells us otherwise and that rape, violence and other repugnant acts are universal problems, although I do believe (and pray) that its far less in Muslim countries.

I hope this wins best foreign film of the year.

Nothing against freedom of expression, but it seems to me like the American establishment can't/won't portray Muslim/developing nations in a positive way and will not try to carry across how much strife the Afghanis have to face. Every slum is a violent microcosm of the poors savage nature, every brown person suffers the iniquity of culture. Its the perpetuating theme. Even balanced portrayals only feed into negative sentiment. Its a religious establishment that undermines all others establishments, but its own proudly freedom loving American one. When it happens in Afghanistan its a problem with an entire culture. When rape happens in the US, its a matter of a few bad guys.

very good point ghulam

>> Every slum is a violent microcosm of the poors savage nature, every brown person suffers the iniquity of culture. <<

I suppose it works both ways. Most "brown people" think Americans i.e. Westerners are hedonistic fornicating adulterers whose women are cheap, have no shame and no family values. One may ask is that really true?

>> sometimes, i wonder if we had let the russians rule afganistan?
and charlie wilson would not have stepped in and made it his war to
drive the soviets out of afganistan...would be a whole different world today, i am sure.<<

Thank you George.

Very well said. This is actually the root of the problem. "If We Had Let...." What is the difference between "We" and the "Russians". You are the opposite faces of the same coin. Both masacaring people in places like Afghanistan under the pretext that you are the good guy and the Russians the bad.

A person staring from outside will see two of the same people each pretending to be the good guy and each using the same brutal methods to achieve their "self interests".

I recently watched the film (I also read the book) and the rape scene was done in a "tasteful" manner (if you can use this word to describe rape). It was not explicit at all, and gets the point across. I agree with the author, Hosseini and the producers of the film, that it is an essential part of the story and the movie could not have been done without it. The film was excellent and I highly recommend it to everyone. Very emotionally charged and the acting (especially by the young children) was excellent! It is a shame that the people of Afghanistan are more concerned about how a fictional rape scene will affect 2 children, when in reality there are many children in Afghanistan who are being abused and neglected in real life in their country! Instead of complaining about a fictional movie (which actually wakes people up), they should go and help the people of Afghanistan who are really suffering!

I hate to get off topic but I also agree with Ghulam

Western and other euro-centric societies have this agenda to romanticize arab and muslim dominated countries in a sense that they portray the people as primal, innocent but dumb and unknowledgable.

This creates a great deal of negetive stereotypes fueling the already flaming resentmemt if not pity toward the muslim community.

I think people need to look beyond hollywood and the "its a good movie" frame of mind and realize what these forms of media are really doing.