Sonic Youth wrote:Afghanistan doesn't have any film industry.
It may be difficult for the first-world elite to get, but there are degrees of poverty. India and Afghanistan doesn't compare.
And "figuring out the difference between fiction and real life" (if indeed that's what it is) hasn't stopped members of the Hindi community to riot, burn down theatres and make death threats with every new Deepa Mehta film. Perhaps films should be banned there.
Plus, we must take into account the reliability of the translation. Do they really mean the reality, or just the depiction of it? It really doesn't make a difference, because even if they can tell the difference between fiction and reality, the depiction of it might be enough to inflame anger anyway.
i think the makers of OSAMA and KANDAHAR would disagree that there is no film industry in afghanistan. it is very, very tiny, and slowly growing, but it exists. check out this website to see all the films shot and shown in afghanistan: http://afghanland.com/entertainment/movies.html
are you saying people in calcutta are more well off than every single person in afghanistan? living in the streets, eating garbage, and dying of dysentary...well, how much lower can you go than that? yet, even the poorest of the poor in india either have seen a movie or know what one is. i just thought it was an egregious statement to equate being poor with not understanding the concept of a fictional film.
yes, most afghanis are poor, but they are not "the people that time forgot." either they have seen a movie before or at least are aware of what one is. if they have never seen a movie before, why will they start with THE KITE RUNNER?
yes, people even in this country react badly to movies (BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, DOGMA, etc.), but to attack a boy and his family because he is depicted in a movie being raped is:
1) stupid because it is fiction
2) cruel since he is a victim of sexual torture
that is what i cannot stand about the boy's statements. he is saying every single person in afghanistan is stupid and cruel. why does the actor committing the rape not have to worry, but the actor playing the victim does?
"this is unacceptable in our country." being a victim of rape is unacceptable and punishable? what a horrible country. what was the point of "liberating" these people from the taliban if they are all just as cruel and ignorant?