Personally, I think that the film's director chose to
leave out Hassan's cleft lip because of time and practicality. It was important enough
to the director and casting crew to use Afghan boys to play Hassan's and Amir's roles,
and perhaps it was simply too difficult to find the right person for the role and then
to try to create the appearance of a cleft lip.
That being
said, Hassan's deformity plays a major role in the novel. A "cleft" is a division, and
Hassan's cleft lip symbolizes the deep divide that exists between Amir and himself and
between the Pashtuns and Hazaras in Afghanistan. Moreover, Baba's decision to pay for
surgery to fix Hassan's lip incites more jealousy within Amir and drives the novel's
plot. Finally, when Amir suffers a split lip from his fight with Assef at the novel's
end, he ends up with a scar that is quite similar to Hassan's, symbolizing Amir's
complete redemption for his betrayal of Hassan in Chapter 7.
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