Movie controversy forces Afghan actors to flee home

The rape of a young boy proves a pivotal scene in the movie "The Kite Runner," opening in select theaters today.

The scene takes on even greater meaning when you know how deeply it has changed the lives of the film's young actors -- and why.

Four of the child actors in "The Kite Runner" have fled their native Afghanistan for the United Arab Emirates.

The reasons, experts say, are deeply rooted in Afghan culture.

The producers had planned to release the movie six weeks ago, but a controversy erupted when Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, the 12-year-old who plays the rape victim Hassan, told Western media that the scene will be so offensive to Afghans that he fears for his safety.

His family says producers never told them about the scene before the boy signed on to play the part. Since the book -- a best-seller in the United States -- is not sold in Afghanistan, they didn't know the story included rape.

Nazif Shahrani, professor of anthropology and Central Asian studies at Indiana University, said the family's fear is founded and based on two different issues: racial tensions and Afghan notions of masculinity.

Pashtuns, who have Caucasian facial features, have subjugated Hazaras, who have a more Chinese appearance, throughout Afghan history, he said.

Since Hassan is Hazara and his attacker is Pashtun, the scene symbolizes the rape of one race by another, he added.

It also points to issues of masculinity and power.

"The rape is an emasculating thing," says Yasmeen Shorish, president of the Chicago-area American Society of Afghan Professionals. "It's more of a psychological torture than a beating would be.

"(The rapist) was trying to establish dominance. It's more of a power thing than a sexual thing."

Just participating in filming the scene would bring shame and dishonor in Afghanistan, Shahrani said.

While Americans are taught to sympathize with rape victims, some in Afghanistan would see the victim as weak, Shahrani said. That view stems from cultural beliefs, not the teachings of Islam, he added.

One other surprising development is that the actor's father told CNN that many Afghans would believe that the on-screen rape really happened.

Since the rape is shot from a distance and done in an impressionistic way, according to reports, Americans would know it was faked. But Afghans might not.

"In America, we have entertainment readily available--- plays, movies, books," said Shorish. "In Afghanistan, there's been none of that for the past 30 years," due to war and oppression, starting with the 1979 Soviet invasion and continuing under the Taliban.

"There haven't been movies made there," she said. "And there's no central educational system. So when you have an uneducated populace, they don't know how Americans shoot movies. They may think, 'Maybe they actually do it.'"

Either way, the boy's life would be difficult had he remained in Afghanistan.

"Regardless," said Shahrani, "the act of submitting to it, whether real or not, is dishonorable and marks the kid."