Paramount has made a movie, ‘The Kite Runner’, about cultural issues and ethnic tensions in Afghanistan. Now they are having to delay the release of the movie because of threats on the lives of the Afghan boys who acted in the movie. The movie producers had no idea there would be problem filming boys of rival tribes acting out the tensions between their tribes.
It seems that Paramount has gotten itself into a bit of a jam by going not understanding the culture they are dealing with.
Hangama Anwari, the child-rights commissioner for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, said on Monday that she had urged Paramount’s counterterrorism consultant to get Ahmad Khan out of the country, at least until after the movie is released. “They should not play around with the lives and security of people,†she said of the filmmakers. “The Hazara people will take it as an insult.â€
Of course, the hollywood execs are saying its the increased violence and tensions in Kabul that are creating the problem for these children actors. They said they felt safe and that they were impressed with the ‘innocence’ of the people prior to making the movie. Now that the movie is made, the Afghans are taking exception to its portrayal of their culture. They are particularly upset about a rape scene depicted in the movie.
They might have gotten a clue with Afghans living in the West wouldn’t cooperate with filming the movie.
The film’s director, Marc Forster, whose credits include “Finding Neverland†(2004), another film starring child actors, said he saw “The Kite Runner†as “giving a voice and a face to people who’ve been voiceless and faceless for the last 30 years.†Striving for authenticity, he said, he chose to make the film in Dari, an Afghan language, and his casting agent, Kate Dowd, held open calls in cities with sizable Afghan communities, including Fremont, Calif., Toronto and The Hague. But to no avail: Mr. Forster said he “just wasn’t connecting with anybody.â€
‘Just wasn’t connecting with anybody’ means they weren’t getting cooperation. So that left them with going into Afghanistan to find actors who, apparently, didn’t really understand about the film making process.
Paramount is hoping around like crazy trying to rectify themselves and prevent themselves from being sued. They have gone so far as to hire a former CIA counterterrorism operative and a Washington-based political adviser to go to Afghanistan and evaluate the situation.
Mr. Kiriakou’s briefing, which he reprised in a telephone interview, could make a pretty good movie by itself. A specialist on Islam at the State Department nearly wept envisioning a “Danish-cartoons situation,†Mr. Kiriakou said. An Afghan literature professor, he added, said Paramount was “willing to burn an already scorched nation for a fistful of dollars.†The head of an Afghan political party said the movie would energize the Taliban. Nearly everyone Mr. Kiriakou met said that the boys had to be removed from Afghanistan for their safety. And a Hazara member of Parliament warned that Pashtun and Hazara “would be killing each other every night†in response to the film’s depiction of them. None of the interviewees had seen the movie.
Again, the hollywood tycoons say its because the situation in Afghanistan is getting worse by the day. It has nothing to do with their movie and how they depict the Afghans. They don’t have anything at all to do with how the Taliban could use the movie to incite violence and gain some form of a resurgence.
At this point, Paramount is delaying the release of the film until the boys involved are out of school. They will then move the boys out of the country, possibly permanently, in order to ensure their safety. They are even stating they are willing to make the commitment to financially take care of the boys and their guardians until the boys reach adulthood.
There are so many issues with this story. Of course, the boys parents could be taking Paramount for a major financial ride. Then again, its so typically narcissistic of the hollywood set to be completely oblivious to anything but their own agendas. Then top it all off with them assigning blame to everyone but themselves.
The problem is, we ARE at war and the Taliban really doesn’t seem to care how rich or famous they are. They don’t play by the same rules. We have Soldiers in Afghanistan right now who probably had to take time to guard these people while they were over there ‘getting a feel for the people’ and doing their casting calls and what not. We have Soldiers over there fighting the very same people who are threatening to kill these young boys who acted in this movie.
Even so, Hollywood doesn’t get it. They have no clue how their activities impact the bigger picture. I guess in their world the pictures they make are the only ones that matter.
Not to worry, they are covered up with attorneys and will buy their way out of this one way or the other.
