Spoiler Alert!!!
A few months ago, we started a very good book-exchange relationship with our friends Fabiola and Oscar. We use to recommend books to each other and sometimes get together to watch a movie at home. The first book Fabiola recommended us was "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, an Afghani immigrant in the U.S. who tells a powerful story about friendship and his upbringing in a once peaceful and beautiful Afghanistan
This was one of these books that as soon as you grab them (or they grab you?) you can't stop reading until you reach the back page. And even then you still want more.
The movie was released in 2007 with a moderate success and mixed reviews. I believe there were very high expectations given the success of the book, which was first published in 2003 I admit I was also eager to watch the movie and had high expectations as well. But the movie didn't let me down.
The Director, Marc Forster, tried to keep the story as tight as possible to the actual book. This is always difficult because there's so much information you can cram into two hours of film. He left out some bits but, to me, he managed to maintain the book's idea and the screenplay even contained many quotes taken word from word from Hosseini's book.
This is the story about Amir, a child growing up in pre conflict Afghanistan in the seventies, and his relationship with his best friend and servant, Hassan. They live a peaceful life in Amir's house, a big place in Kabul's best residential district as his father, Baba, was a wealthy man. His mother had died during childbirth, so Amir felt his father ignored and even hated him. Amir grew up trying to please his father, and cherished every little gesture his father had towards him. He idolised his Baba.
At the same time, Hassan, son of Baba's longtime servant and friend Ali, was devoted to pleasing his friend Amir in every way he could. Hassan admired and loved Amir and was loyal to him to the end. Hassan was a Hazara boy. Hazara's are considered as low class people in Afghanistan, only suited to be servants or blue collar workers at best. Amir and his father were Pashtun, one of the leading tribes in the country.
Amir and Hassan were close friends and shared everything, but in front of others, Amir changed quickly and treated Hassan as a servant, sometimes even humiliating him. On one occasion, Hassan is cornered by other Pashtu boys and is raped, the ultimate humiliation. Amir watches everything from a hiding spot and doesn't dare to intervene to save his friend. He is so shocked by this act, and feels so much guilt for not helping Hassan, that his easy way out of his guilt is faking a robbery at home blaming Hassan. Ali, his father, is so embarrassed that he quits his job and leaves with Hassan, much to Baba's dismay and disapproval.
In the meantime, the Soviets take control of Afghanistan and Baba leaves the country in a hurry with an adolescent Amir. They finally settle in the U.S. where they live an uneventful life, deprived of the luxuries they had at home. Amir gets married, and eventually Baba died. Amir then is called by Rahim Kahn, his father's best friend who stayed behind in Afghanistan. He wanted to discuss something about Hassan with Amir and needed him to fly back to Pakistan, where he was living now. The Taliban were now in control of the country.
This where the movie starts, with the phone call, in the middle of the night, made to Amir, who was happily married and already in his early forties. He and his wife couldn't have children and had recently stopped trying. From here onward, the story is told in two times, while Amir is a boy playing with Hassan is Kabul's streets and his adult life in the U.S. followed by his adventurous trip back to Afghanistan.
Once he meets Rahim Khan, he's told Hassan is dead. He got married and had a son, but him and his wife were killed by the Taliban while defending Baba's old house, which Rahim asked Hassan to look after. Rahim asked Amir to rescue the little boy, Sohrab, from an orphanage and bring him back to America with him, to give him a better life. Rahim also tells him Hassan was his half brother, because his Baba had a one time relationship with Hassan's mother, a beautiful woman who ended up leaving Ali.
Amir decides that he must find Sohrab and bring him back to America. That's his mission, and he owes this to that honorable man named Hassan, whom he had hurt so much once. he then crosses over to Afghanistan and after locating the boy, a nine year old who was being used as a sex slave by a Taliban officer, manages to escape with him, not after being badly beaten almost to death.
Upon his return, his wife is happy because they now have a son and they both try very hard to get to know the boy, and they struggle to gain his trust and love as Sohrab had only known about death, violence and abuse since he was born. The final scene is a great one, where they fly a kite and the boy engages in a kite fight the same way Amir used to do when in Kabul. After winning the fight and the losing kite flies away, Amir tells him he's going to get it for him "For you, a thousand times over", the exact same phrase Hassan used many years ago. Sohrab, who finally engaged with Amir when flying the kite, gives him a big smile, and the movie ends.
With this simple gesture by Sohrab, we feel there's finally a hope for redemption for Amir, who spent his entire life with this enormous sense of guilt for having abandoned his best friend and hidden the truth of the false robbery accusation from his father.
The movie is beautifully acted and scripted, although all it took was to follow the book step by step and employ many of its memorable quotes. The time factor, the story told in two different eras, was also managed very well and was not confusing at all (sometimes it tends to be)
This is a powerful story anyway you look at it. There's suffering, forced migration, longtime friendships and of course, a long war which torn a country to shreds. The main character is not perfect. He's not a hero in shining armor but only a confused boy whose actions had far worse consequences than he expected and he paid the price for this. And finally, redemption, or at least a the beginning of it.
This is, at least, my opinion, and I might be wrong.
The Director, Marc Forster, tried to keep the story as tight as possible to the actual book. This is always difficult because there's so much information you can cram into two hours of film. He left out some bits but, to me, he managed to maintain the book's idea and the screenplay even contained many quotes taken word from word from Hosseini's book.
This is the story about Amir, a child growing up in pre conflict Afghanistan in the seventies, and his relationship with his best friend and servant, Hassan. They live a peaceful life in Amir's house, a big place in Kabul's best residential district as his father, Baba, was a wealthy man. His mother had died during childbirth, so Amir felt his father ignored and even hated him. Amir grew up trying to please his father, and cherished every little gesture his father had towards him. He idolised his Baba.
At the same time, Hassan, son of Baba's longtime servant and friend Ali, was devoted to pleasing his friend Amir in every way he could. Hassan admired and loved Amir and was loyal to him to the end. Hassan was a Hazara boy. Hazara's are considered as low class people in Afghanistan, only suited to be servants or blue collar workers at best. Amir and his father were Pashtun, one of the leading tribes in the country.
Amir and Hassan were close friends and shared everything, but in front of others, Amir changed quickly and treated Hassan as a servant, sometimes even humiliating him. On one occasion, Hassan is cornered by other Pashtu boys and is raped, the ultimate humiliation. Amir watches everything from a hiding spot and doesn't dare to intervene to save his friend. He is so shocked by this act, and feels so much guilt for not helping Hassan, that his easy way out of his guilt is faking a robbery at home blaming Hassan. Ali, his father, is so embarrassed that he quits his job and leaves with Hassan, much to Baba's dismay and disapproval.
In the meantime, the Soviets take control of Afghanistan and Baba leaves the country in a hurry with an adolescent Amir. They finally settle in the U.S. where they live an uneventful life, deprived of the luxuries they had at home. Amir gets married, and eventually Baba died. Amir then is called by Rahim Kahn, his father's best friend who stayed behind in Afghanistan. He wanted to discuss something about Hassan with Amir and needed him to fly back to Pakistan, where he was living now. The Taliban were now in control of the country.
This where the movie starts, with the phone call, in the middle of the night, made to Amir, who was happily married and already in his early forties. He and his wife couldn't have children and had recently stopped trying. From here onward, the story is told in two times, while Amir is a boy playing with Hassan is Kabul's streets and his adult life in the U.S. followed by his adventurous trip back to Afghanistan.
Once he meets Rahim Khan, he's told Hassan is dead. He got married and had a son, but him and his wife were killed by the Taliban while defending Baba's old house, which Rahim asked Hassan to look after. Rahim asked Amir to rescue the little boy, Sohrab, from an orphanage and bring him back to America with him, to give him a better life. Rahim also tells him Hassan was his half brother, because his Baba had a one time relationship with Hassan's mother, a beautiful woman who ended up leaving Ali.
Amir decides that he must find Sohrab and bring him back to America. That's his mission, and he owes this to that honorable man named Hassan, whom he had hurt so much once. he then crosses over to Afghanistan and after locating the boy, a nine year old who was being used as a sex slave by a Taliban officer, manages to escape with him, not after being badly beaten almost to death.
Upon his return, his wife is happy because they now have a son and they both try very hard to get to know the boy, and they struggle to gain his trust and love as Sohrab had only known about death, violence and abuse since he was born. The final scene is a great one, where they fly a kite and the boy engages in a kite fight the same way Amir used to do when in Kabul. After winning the fight and the losing kite flies away, Amir tells him he's going to get it for him "For you, a thousand times over", the exact same phrase Hassan used many years ago. Sohrab, who finally engaged with Amir when flying the kite, gives him a big smile, and the movie ends.
With this simple gesture by Sohrab, we feel there's finally a hope for redemption for Amir, who spent his entire life with this enormous sense of guilt for having abandoned his best friend and hidden the truth of the false robbery accusation from his father.
The movie is beautifully acted and scripted, although all it took was to follow the book step by step and employ many of its memorable quotes. The time factor, the story told in two different eras, was also managed very well and was not confusing at all (sometimes it tends to be)
This is a powerful story anyway you look at it. There's suffering, forced migration, longtime friendships and of course, a long war which torn a country to shreds. The main character is not perfect. He's not a hero in shining armor but only a confused boy whose actions had far worse consequences than he expected and he paid the price for this. And finally, redemption, or at least a the beginning of it.
This is, at least, my opinion, and I might be wrong.
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