User Reviews

Amazing, Astounding, Brilliant, Superb. Those are the four adjectives that prop up in my head when I start describing "The Kite Runner". Khaled Hosseini's book adaptation had already captured many minds, in fact it is rumored that he himself broke down in to tears after watching the premier. I must say before I even start that I had read the book before I saw the advanced screening of "The Kite Runner". So my judgment and views may be slightly biased.

Firstly, let me say it, that even though in my opinion the book was better than the final product of the movie, it is by no means a bad adaptation. I mean for a two hour movie it's got the deserved response. Things do appear a tad fast in the final twenty odd minutes, but apart from that it has succeeded what the book did. It has captured the minds and imagination of millions all across the globe. The magic woven by Khaled Hosseini, to give us a sense of remorse of joy, of sadness, of pain, of loyalty is astute in this adaptation. Especially in the very first scene, when young Hassan says, "If you tell me to eat dirt, I will. but I know you won't ask me to." Such a touching line, is bound to capture the hearts of many. The two young actors were brilliant, absolutely superb. Especially the boy who played the innocent but loyal Hassan, a boy, who refuses to give up a kite he caught because he promised his best friend that he would bring it to him, only to be abused by large bullies who beat him up and use him sexually, and then to be rebuked by his best friend as a coward. The entire act is so touching that it cannot but wet your eyes.

The entire movie is well placed save the last bit. The point when Amir learns of his true relationship with Hassan and reads Hassan's first and last not to him, when he breaks down in tears feeling helpless, lonely and remorseful, that appeared a bit rushed and felt that Amir was behind a facade. In the book, Khaled Hosseini had dedicated some 10-12 pages to describe Amir's state of mind in that position. But that his made up for in the penultimate segment of the movie, when Amir stands up for Hassan's boy, his nephew, Sohrab in front of his commanding father-in-law. The ending was well deserved and I am sure will be well appreciated. It felt witnessing the torch pass down from one generation to another.

Coming over to the technical aspects. First of all, the acting. Just one word-Superb. From start to finish, young Hassan and Amir, their father, his friend Rahim Khan. Everyone has been superb, especially young Hassan. Second, the direction was amazing, coupled with some brilliant camera work. The background score was also impressive. Right from the start credit track to the end credit, and I especially loved the one when Amir is in the mosque in Pakistan the western and Islamic fusion, made that extra special.

All in all, this is definitely one of the better movies, and it's a welcome break from all those Iran inspired movies that we have floating all over this year. 9/10 !!!

Having just read the book and a day later watched the film I can tell you I was severely disappointed. To be fair there was quite a bit to shoehorn into the film and as a result the film moved at an amazing pace compared with the book. Plenty was left some of it quite important in my opinion. A good example - Hassan actually had an operation for his birthday present from Amir's father to correct his harelip not a kite! I think because so many of the scenes in the film were very short as they were trying to fit so much into the film there is little time to engage with the characters and have any emotional attachment to them. This made the film almost not caring about its purpose. The emotion of the book never appeared in the film. I was not upset or distressed at all. I should have been. The truth of the tale is devastating. But the actors didn't seem engaged in the weight of their portrayal.

In short PLEASE READ THE BOOK! The film is weak and soulless.

It was AMAZING. As a librarian and an attendee at the New York Library Association's Vitality Fund Event on Thursday night, October 18, I was privileged to see a pre-release screening of the new movie, The Kite Runner. The release of the movie has been delayed because of concerns about the welfare of the child actors involved. I am grateful that the NYLA event was allowed to go on as planned.

Regarding the movie, I feel it was masterfully done. It had as much impact on me, I think, as Stanley Kubrik's A Clockwork Orange, even though it is much less graphic - MUCH less. There is no comparison between the horrendous, shocking violence and rape shown in A Clockwork Orange and the small amount of violence actually shown in Kite Runner; only the subject matter and the implications for the human psyche are comparable. (I have written more details about the violence and child rape and how it was handled on my MySpace blog.) My overall impression was that this film was fantastic; one of the best-made films I have seen. The depiction of the Afghani boys flying their kites captured some of the beauty and grace of an art form unknown to most of the world. The subject matter is intensely serious, and the movie carries the emotions of the audience into that subject matter without many jarring "Hollywood touches" which have ruined other movies. Although the overturned cart of pomegranates was an obvious bit of symbolism (to me).

Finally, I must mention the excellence of the sound track. The recitation by the boy of poetry by Rumi as two main characters are fleeing the country during the Russian invasion - under terrifying circumstances - truly showed the power of those poems. I urge anyone watching to disregard the subtitles in that scene to the extent that you can, and just listen to the beauty of the language. I don't even know what language Amir is quoting, whether his normal Dari Persian dialect is the same as Rumi's original Persian dialect. Also, please note the sound heard every time a kite line is cut. I found it a profound, distinctive sound, though the librarians who were with me did not notice it at all. I can't help but wonder if kites actually make a sound like that when they are "cut", or if it gives a sense of the vibration/sound experienced by the kite flyer during competition.

Read the book about 6 years ago and loved it. It was one of my favorites. The movie was a very literal adaptation of the book. If you've read the book you've seen the movie, not that this is a bad thing.

I thought the movie was done very well from start to finish and the story translated well to film, however I simply did not find it as poignant or touching as the book. Maybe it's just because my imagination did it more justice than a visual image. Don't know for sure. The book actually made me weep. The movie did not. It just felt like there was an emotional element that was missing. The crucial seen with Hassan and the boys didn't come across to me as pivotal, even though I know that it was, ever seen "the accused"? THAT was pivotal, gut wrenching, and caused a physical reaction in the viewer. It's not that I WANT to see violence on screen, but the way the scene was done did not cause me to really feel what I was supposed to.

When I had read this years back and discussed it with others we all agreed that there was a part towards the end that was extremely implausible. If you read the book or saw the movie I think you'll know what I'm referring to.

All in all it was an enjoyable film. I just didn't think it was great.

A great father & son movie! Based on Khaled Hosseini's fictional novel 'The Kite Runner', the movie is very similar to the author time in Kabul, Afghanistan in 1970s. The country yet been ravaged by the 1980's Soviet invasion and subsequent Taliban rule. The movie is very loyal to the book, and there wasn't much different. The movie starts off with Amir (Khalid Abdalla) recalls an event that happened during his childhood, while living in Afghanistan with his father Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) He had a loyal friend named Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada) who would often run to get his kite for him. One day, Hassan save his life from bullies, during one such kite-battle. Instead of thanking Hassan, the crude child Amir treats him with shame, because of what happen to him, and out of jealousy whenever Hassan receives Amir's father's affection. They slowly drift apart. The story jumps to March 1981, where Amir's family escape Kabul, before the Soviet invasion and find themselves in America. Feeling guilty of the loyal friend, he mistreat and left behind as a child, the more mature adult, Amir go back to Afghanistan to find Hassan and his son Sohrab (Ali Danish Bakhtyari) to help them reach America. Without spoiling too much, the movie is very controversy when filming. First off, the majority of the film's dialogue is in Dari, with the remainder spoken in English. The child actors are native speakers, but several adult actors had to learn Dari. I glad, the movie had sub-titles, even if it's hard to read in some scenes due to blurs or words blending with the background. Another problem was the children who played Hassan, Amir and Sohrab, and a fourth boy with a smaller role, had to be moved out of the country of Afghanistan where they live during the filming due to threats of kidnapping. The rape scene in the film, along with other abuse at the hands of the Taliban, put the young actors and their families in possible danger, as some Afghans found the episode insulting. Not only that, the kid actors were getting paid a lot more money than the people in Afghanistan were used to. I have to say, all the actors were really good. The pacing for the film was a bit long. Honestly, the whole sub-plot of Amir trying to marry Soraya (Atossa Leoni) with or without their parents' permission was bit too added on. It could had been cut to save time. Glad, they cut Amir has problems with the Embassy regarding the adoption of Sohrab, the attempt suicide or the Nazi whattabe bad guy. That sure wasn't needed. The movie use great symbolism here. The kite serves as a symbol of Amir's happiness as well as his guilt. Flying kites is what he enjoys most as a child, not least because it is the only way that he connects fully with his father, who was once a champion kite fighter and his memories of Hassan. I love the Rostam and Sohrab references. One thing, they were missing was the Cleft Lip symbolism. In the novel, it was Hassan's most representative features as a child. When Amir gets an similar permanent scar much like Hassan's. In a sense, Amir's identity becomes merged with Hassan's. He learns to stand up for those he cares about, as Hassan once did for him, and he becomes a father figure to Sohrab. Because of this, it also serves as a sign of Amir's redemption. Sadly, it wasn't mention. Instead, I do love the father/ son relationship. The relationship between Amir & his father are some of the best scenes in the film. You really see the great desire to please his father in every way when as a child. When Amir grows up, you felt the angry toward his father for the lack of it. The movie use irony symbolism in the three acts structure so well. The things that haunted Amir with guilt in the first act, repeat in the three act, giving him another chance of redemption. I love the theme of the search of redemption and the persistence of the past. This is really told, well. The movie also does a great job showing the brutality that destroys Afghanistan. You can clearly see the different between 1973's Afghanistan to that early 2000's Afghanistan. Great use of locations and the way, Director Marc Forster shot it. The music sore is well done by Alberto Iglesias. It was even nominated for an Academy Award in 2007. For a PG-13 movie, it's still a bit disturbing. It's watchable, but do make sure, you keep tissues, near you, as it will leave you with tears. If you like this movie, check out, Khaled Hosseini second book, "A Thousand Splending Suns,". It's worth the read. Overall: There is a way to be good again, and this movie show one great example of that.

I read The Kite Runner for my English class and loved it so much that I went out and bought myself a copy. I'm not one for reading, and I could not put this book down. The characters and their development was very well thought out and so was the plot. It really hit you on an emotional level with some of the twists and surprises, and I liked how the ending wasn't a full resolution rather than a bittersweet compromise to what the main character would have wanted. The movie however was a little disappointing with a few things. First, Hassan was not accurately portrayed in the movie compared to how he was described in the book, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if it wasn't as important to the plot as it is in this book/movie (this was the biggest thing that bothered me about the movie). Second, the movie just in general missed some important details from the book that sometimes stood out, but if you haven't read the book, obviously you don't need to worry about that. However, in general I did really enjoy the movie. It had some very beautiful scenes, and for the more serious and sad scenes it did a good job at encompassing the emotion. I'm also a big fan of soundtracks, and the opening titles for this movie sold me immediately. This movie is certainly not a light-hearted one, but it does impact you on an emotional level and I would definitely recommend this movie.

i loved the book, but this movie just didn't do it justice. i understand that to fit everything in would have made it six hours long, but if you never read the book (which is a crime in its own right) you missed the whole meaning behind the story. Assef is one of the most important characters in the book, and in the movie he is an insignificant bully. not only that but the movie shortened some important lines and completely cut others, especially from Rahim Khan. they changed other things that just didn't need to be changed like when Assef was reintroduced. the head of the orphanage sent them to see another man for no reason. and Assef didn't give Amir and Sohrab the free getaway which actually would have saved a little time. Assef isn't even German which was a small, but important part of his character and his obsession with Hitler at least explained more of why he was so crazy at the end. oh, i almost forgot i HATED that they gave the blue kite a face. it was unnecessary and leaving it out would have allowed more important things from the book to be put into the movie. the movie on its own was pretty good but just lacked the overall feeling of the book and there were WAY too many pointless changes from the book for me to like it.

Like Mark Twain's "The War Prayer" - with both a spoken and unspoken prayer – for me, "The Kite Runner" has both a spoken and unspoken message. The spoken message is a message of redemption. After returning to Afghanistan to rescue (and be rescued by) his half-brother's son, Amir finds a degree of contentment upon "becoming good again." It was not until I continued to reflect upon the movie that I recognized the unspoken message. I was troubled by what drove Amir to find the courage, the backbone, the character to stand up to his "General" father-in-law when he was disrespectful regarding his half-brother's son. Although I can see where finding contentment from "becoming good again" contributed to finding the character to stand up to the "General" - of itself - it did not seem sufficient.

Throughout the movie, Amir desired to be like his father, to have his father's character and to be respected by his father for the character that his father recognized in Hassan. Amir saw his father as an individual of towering and unassailable character, which he was. One of the reasons Amir did not see himself with the character of his father, was because he saw himself with flaws that would prevent the attainment of those heights. It was not until Amir learned that his father was not without faults (fathering a child with his servant's wife), that he recognized that his father's flaws did not prevent his father from developing and attaining character. It is this recognition (the unspoken message – that we can have flaws and still have character) that allows Amir to find his own character to stand up to the "General."

In essence, the unspoken message is telling us that we, as individuals, may have deficiencies, but that should not stop us from developing, enhancing and embracing our own character. We are too often overly critical of our own shortcomings, and do not give ourselves credit for the quality person that we are. If we are not perfect today, there is always tomorrow! This is an ongoing, ever evolving, ever improving process. The past cannot be changed, only tomorrow can be improved!