“The Kite Runner” (Paramount Vantage)
Doesn’t Live Up To the Book
Kaled Hosseini’s novel THE KITE RUNER sold a phenomenal amount of copies. It was one of the major successes in the book world. But sometimes a great book does not make a great movie and that is the case with the screen version of “The Kite Runner.” Director Marc Forster has stayed fairly true to the contents of the book but the visual version can not match the novel’s look at the inner workings of the mind.
Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are boyhood friends living in Afghanistan in the 1980’s Amir is the son of a wealthy man and Hassan is the son of one of his servants. Hassan idolizes Amir and would do anything for him, while Amir is a weak boy who only looks out for himself.
Amir and Hassan love to fly kites and engage in contests in which one kite attempts to cut down another. One day they enter a major contest in their city and it is the aftermath of this event that leads to a tragedy that affects the rest of their lives.
The film tells its complex story in flashbacks. We see the adult Amir (Kallid Abdallah) living in California. He is a successful writer. But a call from the past sends him back to the land of his childhood to face a terrible situation that requires his action. Whether or not he has developed the character to face this trial is the question of the film.
Director Forster has virtually created a foreign film. Most of the dialogue is in a foreign language so subtitles are required. There is a little English spoken but not a lot. Plus the actors are all unknown to American audiences. They are excellent in their roles but they are not name actors.
The film is rated PG-13 for profanity, violence and adult situations. Since the story has an incident of rape in it, as well as some bloody scenes of violence, this lenient rating is unexpected.
If Forster could have presented the mindset of his characters the film might have been more effective. As is, the character of Amir is never fully understood. He seems to grow and mature but the weakness of his youth casts a long shadow over his adult life.
Those who have read the book will enjoy the movie much more than those who have not. Only in the pages of Hosseini’s novel can the full story of THE KITE RUNNER be obtained. Read the book and then see the movie for the maximum entertainment effect.
I scored “The Kite Runner” a windblown 6 out of 10.
