The Kite Runner

Posted by Tara Settembre (tara@filmschoolrejects.com) on November 19, 2007

The film adaptation of The Kite Runner brings the popular best seller to life with beautiful intensity. Like the novel, this film is haunting, vivid and upsetting.

I’m not a huge fan of political movies or books, but the political events in The Kite Runner are only a part of the story. Instead the captivating main characters and tale itself make for an interesting and non didactic watch, despite the political issues that it also arises.

Who’s in this film? No one recognizable from typical Hollywood films. The film stuck to a purism telling by only hiring actors with Middle Eastern or Muslim ancestry, in fact, the little boys in the film weren’t even actors. Yet, the performances are powerfully executed and I did not even miss seeing a familiar face.

Besides the acting, to keep the authenticity element, this film is partially told in native tongues with English subtitles. However, I almost forgot that the film wasn’t in English since it was easy to keep pace with the story through the actions. Plus, as the story progresses more English is incorporated into the dialogue of the film and the subtitles fade away.

The story starts with two Afghanistan boys in the 1970s (before the Russians and before The Taliban), one is a Shi’a the other a Sunni Muslim, one lives a life of privilege the other is a servant, one is jealous, the other loves unconditionally. Their boyhood friendship is soon torn asunder due to class prejudices and envy as well as unfolding historical events. The film then jumps to America and to a present day Afghanistan that is much different than the boyhood innocence shown earlier in the film. Under the new regime we see women who were once free now in burkas, beautiful houses and pomegranate trees destroyed, men hung in the streets and women being stoned to death. The latter was of course the hardest to watch. In fact, I closed my eyes through that particular scene.

The kite competition from which the story gets its name from, are among the prettiest shots in the film. The camera swoops along from the kite’s vantage point, high above Kabul and quickly darts and weaves with the wind. It’s really done well and without looking too CGI. Most of the film was shot in China and not Kabul though.

Some themes throughout this film include guilt, standing up for others and father/son relationships. I left the theater moved and silent with my thoughts. I wonder if I’m bias because I read the book and was already captivated by the tale, but at the same time I was afraid it would ruin the literature for me. Luckily, I wasn’t disappointed with the film adaptation; in fact it only helped bring the great story to life more so.

Last but not least, the music throughout is amazing, original and exotic. I wouldn’t be surprised if the score is up for an award come February.

The Upside: For those who loved the book, you won’t be disappointed. For those, who didn’t read the book, you’re in for a powerful cinematic tale. “For you a thousand times over.”

The Downside: It’s heavy and there are brutal scenes.

On the Side: The family of one of the actors tried to get the pivotal rape scene removed from the film, but because it’s so important to the plot it was kept in but is not shown as graphically it could have been. This controversial scene also caused the release of this film to be postponed, so they have time to get the film’s young stars out of their native Afghanistan – and avoid local ethnic tensions. The three young actors in the adaptation are now being relocated with their families to the United Arab Emirates until the growing fuss over the film ends. The film will now be released on Dec. 14. The three boys are expected to attend the movie’s U.S. premiere.

Grade: A

Release Date: December 14, 2007 Rated: PG-13 for strong thematic material including the rape of a child, violence and brief strong language. Running Time: 122 min. Cast: Khalid Abdalla, Homayon Ershadi, Zekeria Ebrahimi Director: Marc Forster Screenplay: David Benioff, Khaled Hosseini Studio: Paramount Vantage Official Website: Click Here

Read more articles by Tara Settembre