In the movie, Hassan's cleft lip was left out, making the birthday present he received in the novel impossible in the movie . Although he was unable to have surgery to repair his cleft lip, he was given a kite instead. The kite flying was something that didn't seem as important as the surgery, so leaving out Hassan's cleft lip in the film just took away from the fact that Hassan's father couldn't pay for it, and what their. Additionally, not including the cleft lip hurt Baba and Hassan's relationship, because in the novel, asking Baba to pay for this surgery showed how much he cared for Hassan. The scene where Hassan and Amir were flying the kite was just as I had imagined it, beautiful and breathtaking. It was something that brought them together, and when they won, it made the scene more enjoyable. As Hassan went to get the kite, he was violently beaten and raped. This scene was present in both the novel and the film, but the novel had more details. It was best not to include this detail in the film, as it would be so profound that it would traumatize the audience. In the novel, Assef who raped Hassan was the same age, but in the film, he appeared to be three or four years older, which made the rape scene even more striking for the audience. The part where Hassan goes to watch over Amir's house while he lives in America is similar to the novel, which shows how the Taliban had complete control over