It's hard to believe that a country is so sick. Talibans are humans after all..
Do you think that they really rape kids when they are horny, kill women with stones, sell legs on the street, have people hung...
--POSSIBLE SPOILERS--
You are right, it's not believable. But in my opinion, this is because the movie is poorly executed: it's so filled with clichés, that when it gets to the Taliban's sequence, it stinks propaganda all over.
The boys are 'so sweet', the typical atrocities happen to one of them (rape, false accusations of robbery, rejection by the family), it feels sometimes like a formulaic soap opera.
And then there are this film's Talibans, they are cardboard cutouts, with no personality, background or justification at all. We even see one of them as a juvenile rapist, and later on as an adult rapist, as if these people were evil by nature and whoever shoots them is a hero.
I can't possibly know the realities of the Taliban regime; maybe they are as cruel and deranged as Americans paint them. But a film as flawed as "The Kite Runner" only makes me wonder: could this had been another injustice perpetrated by the west that will never be acknowledged?
I Don't think it is purely the fault of the movie. yes they did exaggerate the taliban cliches in the film but that was because of shortage of time. They skipped alot of info from the rest of the story too which would have fleshed out minor characters.
The taliban protrayal is based on the book...and the novel depicts talibans in an one dimensional way anyway, so the movie didn't have to do much to produce propaganda.
Only thing the book offers in difference is that assef tells Amir that he is rich and doesn't need money from him in return for releasing Sohrab, showing that taliban may have members who were of wealthy background...e.g taking the Bin Laden line.
So yeah the foundation of the taliban image comes from the book itself.
fact of the matter remains that the war was justified when the Taliban gave aid and shelter to Al-Queda who attacked the United States. The movie was just a movie as for propaganda it doesn't fit the definition. After all Khaled Hosseini who wrote the novel is an Afghan.
shareIt's hard to believe the Nazis could do such horrendous things, too, but that was real. (I know, I know, pulling out the Nazis is a really juvenile argument, but it seems applicable here...)
The stonings and hangings are verifiable. The people selling prosthetic legs on the street weren't Taliban; they were victims of the Taliban driven to extreme measures to survive. As for child rape, that isn't so much a characteristic of the Taliban as a characteristic of Assef, one character.
Yes, the Taliban are human but humans sometimes commit heinous atrocities, especially when in large, ideologically motivated groups.
Agree with Rodney McKay's points (as well as your screen name - sorry SGA was canceled).
Why is it unbelievable that Assef would be a child rapist? Give people the omnipotence by association that Assef had by being a member of the Taliban, shield them from any consequences whatsoever, and you'll bring out the worst in people. It's not a "defense of U.S. foreign policy" - American soldiers in My Lai did the same thing, as have members of every army in every war in history.
Denny Crane.
I've never seen the movie, but I've read the book three times and I still cannot believe that someone would say the Taliban are still human beings. For me, they are on the same level as the Nazis who slaughtered Jews during World War II. As well, in the book, there is a mention of a slaughter of Hazaras by the Taliban. Read the book, and then you can decide whether or not to find any favor in the Taliban.
shareAmazing that the original posters and others think that "The Taliban isn't that
bad." I'm surprised to find people as gullible as this, but they still exist.
Sure, the Taliban aren't the nicest people and will do cruel things to show that they mean business. By stoning women in public, they are saying, don't mess with us.
Also, the Russians weren't very nice either, when they invaded.
Isn't it obvious that the Taliban are trying to show they "mean business" when they commit their atrocities? Instead of wasting your time pointing out the obvious, you should spend your time writing about how dangerous the Tablian really are. You are correct the Russians "weren't very nice either" but that doesn't improve the Tablian's moral standing one iota!
share
I have to agree with you szabo. It is shocking that people think that such horrors do NOT exist in this world, and they do.
All people need to do is really dig deep into real articles instead of just listening to what sounds good to them.
And yes. That is an opinion and I don't expect you to like it or agree with it.
Life is a banquet and most suckers are starving to death...
Taleban, like Nazi, were deep humanists. This movie is just american propaganda. It's part of a Jewish-Christian conspiracy to dominate the world.
By the way, scenes from CNN reports showing Talebans hitting women in the streets were dramatized. Burqas? Fiction. Western propaganda to justify the war. Christiane Annanpour, what a great actress you are.
And Americans orphaning half a million Iraqi children for oil are better ?
And Jews massacring children in Gaza and keeping war prisoners -that aren't even charged of anything- in dark rooms for months are any better?
Sophistry
shareSophistry.
It isn't a matter of whom is better than who. Becoming aware of such atrocities is what matters. Fighting against such crimes of humanity matters.
Life is a banquet and most suckers are starving to death...
Yes.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
I know. It's also hard to believe that in the 21st century the USA still had a place like Guantanamo completely functional, or that George Bush (father) financed Bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda army with money and weapons before the Gulf War.
However, it's nothing but the truth. As someone stated above, the people hanging and the lapidation of women are facts, you probably can find videos on Internet, but I don't recommend you doing so.
The net is littered with videos of executions at Ghazi stadium, I can only assume the OP is joking, or trolling. And the book was actually written by an Afghan national so why it's even being suggested it was designed to justify America's war is beyond me.
My opinion is my property, be careful with it please!
Yes, its hard to believe that people are that evil, but the OP was very insensitive and ignorant.
shareThe apologists for the Taliban should try informing themselves. First, there is really no controversy as to the nature of the Taliban - they are a group of religious fanatics who insist upon very rigid adherence to the rules of Islam (naturally, as they interpret them), which means in essense men can be killed for not having a beard, women for not covering themselves, anyone for playing music or adopting any western customs. Yes, they executed thousands, they destroyed priceless works of art (which they believe are against Allah's law). I could go on, but it is pointless. Such a group has no conception of modern, post-enlightenment government and society, as we have in the West, where we take for granted our freedoms (including religious), human rights, and protection of our lives from arbitrary deprivation. Fanatics convinced they are empowered by God to enforce sacred rules can be very brutal to those whom they consider to be violating God's law. Further, fanaticism and the actual position of absolute power over so many dements the human character, causing such people to loose all restraint and also to start viewing their opponents as not worthy humans, thus not deserving of basic respect and dignity, hence you can kill them. As Assef says in the book, he views Afghanistan as a great mansion cluttered with garbage, and the Taliban is taking the garbage out. No this portrayal of the Taliban is not exaggerated, not does it have an agenda in my view. By the way, the book was published long after the US invasion of Afghanistan, so it could not (much less the film) been motivated by the desire to justify the invasion (which, in any case, WAS justified).
sharePlease read the book so you may better understand Afghanistan, if only for the distinctions between the Afghan people and the members of the Taliban. The long history of invasions, the social structure, the 'caste' system... I learned so much from this book! Assef is a bully, not 'born' into the Taliban, it's something he joined ... whatever his reasons.
In all cultures, the majority of people have the same hopes and aspirations for their families as everyone else. We all need to learn more and love more.
The real problem is the ignorance of the average American. The Taliban wouldn't exist if it wasn't helped into existence by the CIA. All these operations in the middle east are there to destabilize a nation so the US can go in and "help" (meaning take over) and set up a puppet government. People need to study history and listen to lectures about geopolitics, sociology and history instead of being indoctrinated by Hollywood movies. The fact that this movie is not fully Hollywood does not mean anything. It would have never made it to the Oscars if it didn't align with the agenda. People in the US need to wake up!
The CIA now openly admit to the tortures and rapes (and there is more)- later it will all be declassified. Face the truth people it's your own government that tortures and it's the CIA that has operations running in many countries where they recruit people and teach them torture techniques...turn off your TV and research the TRUTH.
Why would America want to go into Afghanistan? Except for poppies, there's absolutely nothing of value there.
Evil is evil, be it the Taliban or the CIA.
This will be the high point of my day; it's all downhill from here.
Was it America's war to begin with? I breathed the dust of the towers that day. The Taliban declared war by harboring OBL and his friends. So, I am just fine with America fighting the just war we are waging there. The Taliban and their friends are still human but the very worst kinds of human, and the human race can't afford their insanity anymore. They need to be destroyed in every way possible. They are demented, and they cannot be saved by anything known to us. I can't help but wonder if Afghans have plans to return.
shareFirstly, it was written by a native Afghan named Khaled Hosseini.
Secondly, this movie does not necessarily intend to imply that because Assef was a child rapist, that all Taliban are rapist. It is the depiction of one character and I believe the point of that was to show the fact that fanatical groups with so much power over others will bring out the worst in people.
Thirdly, the war in Iraq was not justified but the war in Afghanistan was absolutely justified and sadly the two have become confused causing Americans' to take their eye off the ball in tracking down Al Queda and any groups that provide sanctions to Al Queda (like the Taliban).
The Taliban do not rule justly. And in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr (paraphrased) "... an injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere." If the Taliban think they are empowered by God to commit such atrocities against their own people... that's a problem... and its not just Afghanistan's problem... its everybody's problem.