Afghan family fear for their lives over film’s rape scene
By Claire Soares
The Kite Runner has run into trouble. The film version of a best-selling book that has put Afghanistan on the literary map will not be screened in Kabul after controversy erupted over a pivotal rape scene.
Khaled Hosseini’s novel hinges on a life-changing boyhood incident. Amir, the narrator and a privileged member of the Pashtun tribe, witnesses the sexual assault of Hassan, his Hazara servant and best friend who races to retrieve the fallen kites of opponents during flying contests. The guilt about his cowardly failure to intervene and help his friend haunts Amir throughout his life.
But the father of Ahmad Khan, the Afghan boy who plays Hassan in the film, sees this element of the story in very different terms. He is angry about the rape portrayed in the film and worried that it could have dangerous repercussions for his family.
“They said they would not film this part,” Mr Ahmad told BBC Radio. “Of course I am worried about it. My own people from my own tribe will turn against me because of the story. They may cut my throat, they may kill me, they may torture me, anything could happen to me.”A representative of the film’s Paramount Vantage studio confirmed that the film would not be released in Afghanistan, but said this was because there was no suitable distribution network in the country. When asked about the rape controversy, she declined to comment.
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/article2973553.ece
http://www.wvwnews.net/story.php?id=1449