The opening scene is shocking enough. A stern-looking man carries his paralyzed son through the woods. The teenager is so scared he is shaking and, because his speech is impaired, he stutters as he says: “Da-a-ad, what are you doing?”The man puts the boy down on the ground — in a puddle of dirty rainwater — and says flatly: “I am not doing anything, you’re doing everything yourself now. Go ahead. It’s 100 kilometers to home. Crawl!” And with that, he turns and leaves.

But it’s the deeper message of the film “Temporary Difficulties,” which premiered earlier this month in Russia, that has sparked such an outcry. Because even in a country where the disabled are routinely treated in ways that would shock many Americans, the film is being seen as a call for a return to an even darker past, when people with any kind of handicap were largely airbrushed from day-to-day life.

Movie critics have condemned the film, which was partly funded by the Russian Culture Ministry, as insensitive, inflammatory and down right harmful. But viewers have been more positive, with some describing it as “motivating.”

It tells the story of an average Soviet-era family, whose son is born with cerebral palsy — based on a true story, according to the filmmakers.