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The Kite Runner (2007)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

56 reviews

Synopsis

‘The Kite Runner’ is the film of the international bestselling book which tells the story of Amir, a well-to-do boy from the Wazir Akbar Khan district of Kabul, who is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend Hassan, the son of his father's Hazara servant. It is set against a backdrop of tumultuous events, from the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet invasion, the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States, and the Taliban regime.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Adapted from the best-selling novel by Afghan-born American writer Khaled Hosseini, this accessible, deftly-directed and moving tale of childhood regret and adult atonement courses through three decades of war-torn Afghan history in personal terms. In 1978, preceding the Soviet invasion, privileged seven-year-old Kabul boy Amir (Zekeria Ebrahmi) witnesses the rape of his friend and fellow kite-flyer, lower-class Hazara servant Hassan (the expressive and contained Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) by the malevolent Assef. Confused and angered by his own powerlessness, guilt, and shame, Amir frames his erstwhile companion for theft and is further admonished by the morally pure, loyal and self-abnegating behaviour of his victim, something that troubles the aspirant-writer Amir through his 20-odd years of exile in the US. In the present, a visit to Pakistan to see his dead father’s dying friend, offers news of Hassan’s fate, and prompts the older, now-married Amir (Khalid Abdalla) to a dangerous visit to his now Taliban-controlled home.

Notwithstanding the inevitable tendency of individual stories set against momentous national upheavals to conflate and simplify historical events, Marc ‘Finding Neverland’ Forster’s film achieves minor miracles within the bounds of his broadly conventional narrative. His sober approach allows a surprising level of complexity in his film’s wider interest in themes of guilt, displacement, honour and conflicting traditions, while his sensitivity to the emotional responses of his characters – both adult and child – is never overwhelmed nor upstaged by his incorporation of challenging dramatic scenes (such as a startlingly brutal stoning of an adulterous couple in a Kabul stadium). Likewise, the film’s belief in the power of redemption and its subtle assertion of the need for moral courage in personal (or political) conflict, is never allowed to get in the way of its boldly told, intelligent, informed and affecting story.

Author: Wally Hammond

Time Out London Issue 1948: December 19 2007-January 1 2008

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User reviews of this film

sangay said...

Posted on Feb 07 2012 17:05 to be honest, if i watched the movie first, i would have completely lost my interest in book. The movie was just alright. they cud have done better, it was really disappointing and i felt that the director and producers have put very little effort. Even the characters, except for the two young amir and hassen, most of the important characters were not good. I had a feeling that this movie spoilt the book

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I said...

Posted on Nov 21 2011 15:10 Thanks for giving me answers for my homework!!!
lool idiots.

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lollypop said...

Posted on Nov 03 2011 13:27 brill!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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gary said...

Posted on Mar 07 2011 22:22 In contrast to the book this film was appalling. Its such a shame as this is probably one of the most beautiful and moving stories you could come across. The producers have not put any thought in how to get the depth from book and portray this onto the big screen. At times I felt that if I hadn't read the book, I would have not realised the significance of certain parts of the film. Personally I believe that if the film focused more on Amir's adult life and brought his childhood in as flashback at the right moments they could have done the book much more justice. The film makers have also left out some of the most vital parts of the book such as Hassan's harelip and the boys attempt at suicide. Some of the characters also failed to live up to my imagination i.e. Asef in his childhood.
All in all I would rate this film no more than 4/10 and even then I'm probably being bias as this truly a remarkable story.
READ THE BOOK!

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student said...

Posted on Dec 15 2010 17:25 this film did not have the depth in it that the book did that made you fell great empethy for the characters involved, some of the characters could have been a little better casted as they did represent the characters within the novel by hosseini and the film did not fully portray the full meaning of the words that were being spoken.
as a whole the film was well directed without any influance from the novel but the film was deprived from the novel so should have shown more detail in the crucail parts in the plot. maybe it should have been a 15 and included more of the horrific happenings to amir and sohrab it should also have shown more of the ending of the book as there are some crucial elements of the plot that there needed to be. they should have also included hassans hairlip and when amir needed to go to hospital, he should aslo have been shown with a hair lip from his fight with assef as this i a crucial benifactor of the final chapters with in the novel and should also have been shown in the film :)

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simran said...

Posted on Nov 28 2010 23:42 amazing book !!! I'm only 15 and it is the BEST BOOK I have ever read ; absolutely fantastic !!!!!!!!!!!

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Hoppsyz said...

Posted on Jun 05 2010 15:10 Thought this film was great but should have been a 15, not a 12 because of the many traumatic scenes involved. That was its only flaw to me and having never read the book, i am inspired to read it now.

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Char said...

Posted on Jul 13 2009 02:44 Really good movie. Very powerful. It's the kind of movie that keeps you wanting for more. It gives great insite of a personal nature to what has happened in Afghanistan

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Lucy said...

Posted on Mar 31 2009 09:38 An appalling film. I too loved the book, but found the film completely lacked depth and made no effort to portray the the fundamental relationships between characters. What a pity.

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Orangefizz said...

Posted on Mar 17 2009 20:06 However , after reading such a wonderful book, I was left deflated by the film and felt it was a poor and shallow effort. I appreciated what I watched but it left so much passion out. As was the relationship between Baba and Amir, which plays a huge role in the film. Perhaps good insight for whats going on in afghanistan but it kind of came across like a news report than it did a young boys tale,

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myip said...

Posted on Mar 16 2009 00:28 This has to go onto my top 10 list of best films of all times. The book is superb but the film is outstanding in a way that it is always difficult to adapt a great book into a film and yet I would say this film is as good as the book if not better. It opens your eyes to a world I am not familiar with and the film is so sensitive and it conveys so many things. It is so beautifully shot and so intelligently executed. I recommend everyone to watch this film. I certainly moved me deeply and left me thinking for days about family, relationships, the world and forgiveness. Please if you have not watch this get a copy.

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Chris said...

Posted on Jan 30 2009 14:12 I absolutely loved the book, but the film certainly did not live up to the tale. Much too many simple details were left out that could of made this a great film such as the harelip, the suicide theme, football match, henna hands, Ali and Hassan, Hiter theme...Not enough background was given about the Hazaras or Amir and Hassans friendship. I thought the casting and acting were particularly sub-standard, Baba was not the man-bear I had imagined him and many of the actors seemed to stand there and deliver their lines without doing much else. I have a feeling this was filmed digitally which gave it a TV movie feel. Read the book forget the film...

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smileystar said...

Posted on Jan 24 2009 17:36 I recently read the book and was completely fixated by the tale. It opened my mind to what was going on in the world. I am now reading the follow-up. I had to watch the film just to see how well my own imagination matched the film directors. ..I really enjoyed it.

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pac-man said...

Posted on Aug 16 2008 01:22 It's not often that having read the book that you're not disappointed by the film, but the characters and even the locations were as I imagined. The only thing which I felt was skimmed over was the background of the two boys friendship and how closely their lives were intertwined. Brilliant though. Highly recommended.

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Bear said...

Posted on Jul 22 2008 11:55 rubbish film

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