Twelve-year-old Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada portrays the young Hassan in the upcoming film adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner. A story about the friendship of two Afghan boys, the film’s pivotal conflict concerns a rape that the actor’s family has now asked the studio to cut from the film.
The controversial child rape scene in The Kite Runner is perpetrated by a Pashtun bully upon Mahmidzada’s character, a lower class Hazara boy. While this rape points to ethnic stereotypes some fear could revive hostilities in the Afghanistan, it also draws attention to the surprising number of child rape scenes that have been sprouting up in recent films. Controversy has followed recent films such as Hounddog and the upcoming Nothing Is Private, which both feature scenes of child sexual abuse.
It’s unknown if the family of Mahmidzada was aware of this trend when he told the AP, “They didn’t give me the script. They didn’t give me the story of The Kite Runner. If I knew about the story, I wouldn’t have participated as an actor in this film.” Mahmidzada also had concerns Afghans would confuse the actors in The Kite Runner for real people, thus fearing his family would lose dignity as a result of his appearance in the rape scene.
This rape constitutes the primary conflict between the two friends in the film, Amir and Hassan. Amir witnesses the abuse and does nothing to intervene.
Mahmidzada said that during the shooting of the scene, director Marc Forster (Finding Neverland) told him, “The film will be a mess without this part.” However Mahmidzada, his family and other Afghans on the set in China backed Mahmidzada in his protest. “We are Afghan and this is not acceptable to us,” he explained.
The family is concerned that the inclusion of the rape scene will result in torment for Mahmidzada by his schoolmates and other Afghans. Mahmidzada’s father explained, “There are ethnic problems in Afghanistan — between Hazara, Pashtun, Tajik and other ethnic groups…We don’t want any problem between any ethnic group in Afghanistan. We want unity among all ethnic groups in Afghanistan.”
After Afghanistan suffered the post-Soviet era Civil War, the predominantly Pashtun Taliban killed thousands of Hazara before dissolving in 2001. Afterwards, the Afghan public became concerned about the possibility of further conflict between the many divergent factions in the region. Perhaps this diversity of citizens is who Mahmidzada was referring to when he lamented to the AP, “It’s not one or two people that I have to explain to, it’s all of Afghanistan. How do I make them understand?”
The Hollywood Reporter notes Mahmidzada’s compensation for his role in the film was $10,000. To put this into an economic context: Afghan teachers earn $70 per month.
Though this conflict is yet unresolved, Mahmidzada did suggest a resolution to the AP when he said of the film company, “They should take us out of Afghanistan.”
The Kite Runner will be released stateside by Paramount Vantage in limited release December 14. **UPDATE Studio reps have confirmed that The Kite Runner will be distributed on its original release date of November 2.
Sources: Hollywood Reporter
