Film gets different reaction than novel, release delayed and Afghans outraged
Posted on October 15, 2007
“The Kite Runner,” a movie adaptation of the 2003 New York Times best-seller novel The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini, due to open Nov. 2, is causing much controversy as the life and well-being of the young star of the movie is threatened.
“The Kite Runner” centers on the conflict between two childhood friends after an act of betrayal when one of the boys is brutally raped by a psychologically-disturbed bully. The novel focuses on the theme of friendship and redemption as one of the characters attempts to set things right.
The setting is stretched from the 1970’s pre-war Kabul years to the era of the Taliban. As one of the most touching and inspiring books written, The Kite Runner one of the most anticipated movies this fall.
However, according to the New York Times, due to the very graphic and controversial rape scene of one of the boys, the movie release date was delayed by six weeks.
When contacted by the BBC, Ahmad Khan, who plays the young rape victim, and his father, Ahmad Jaan Mahmidzada, voiced concerns toward the possibly violent reaction in Afghanistan regarding the rape scene.
Mahmidzada said, “I’m worried people from my tribe will turn against me, even cut my throat and kill me.”
Fearing such reaction, the movie distributors are said to be evacuating Khan and his family from the country to ensure their safety.
According to the Times article, Paramount Vintage is arranging to move three actors’ families, and has proposed to finance Khan’s education and provide employment to his parents.
Although the producers of the film are being praised for using Afghan actors, the film continues to be a hassle. Another conflict has arisen, this time between the families and the producers. The children and their families are now declaring that they were not forewarned about the graphic and emotional rape scene; however, the producers are firmly disagreeing.
The fact of the matter is, regardless of the producers’ lack of warning the families of such a scene, it was this main event in the novel that acted as the catalyst for the separation of the boys and thus is extremely essential to the plot of the movie.
Furthermore, the scripts should have provided some insight for the actors of what the movie would present. This act of denial is simply a defense mechanism from the Afghans’ threatening and negative feedback.
The conflict concerning the rape scene represents a very realistic issue not just within Afghanistan.
The brutal rape does not in any means degrade Afghanistan as a country or its religion. The movie is simply attempting to stay true to the novel.
It is very suspicious to find that the book itself was not as controversial as the movie adaptation. The book, after all, presented this particular scene first in 2003. Because the author comes from Afghanistan that this novel represents, the credibility of the novel is extremely high.
The main conflict people have with the movie seems to be that authentic Afghan actors are hypothetically supporting the idea of brutal rape, simply by taking part in the movie production.
Also, the actors are being scrutinized by their country because the movie is supposedly diminishing Afghanistan’s image by presenting such radical ideas, which is against the Afghan public’s morality and religion. In the end, a movie is just a movie.
Parvina Mamatova is a freshman SMAD major.
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