David O'ConnellThe Kite Runner
June 26th 2008 04:02
The bonds of friendship between two young boys are stretched to breaking point after a traumatic event which will change their relationship forever in Marc Forster’s adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s phenomenal best seller, The Kite Runner.
Vividly we are sent back in time to Afghanistan in the 70’s before the Russians invaded where Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi), the son of a wealthy landowner, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) is best friends with the son, Hassan (Ahmed Khan Mahmoodzada) of one of his father’s servants. Amir is seen as weak by his father, a boy more interested in artistic pursuits like writing silly stories, incapable of defending himself when approached by bullies in the street. Unlike the diminutive Hassan, who Baba admires for his tenacity, his spirit and bravery in the face of larger opponents.
It’s a struggle for Amir to earn his father’s respect, and he hopes his kite flying abilities in an upcoming tournament will assuage some of his father’s negativity and see him in a new light. He proves up to the task but when Hassan goes off on his own to track their kite down he is cornered by a pack of bullies and horribly assaulted whilst Amir looks on from a hiding spot in the distance, incapable of acting in his best friend’s defense, his lack of courage his fatal weakness.
It’s curious how their relationship falls apart after this defining incident. Amir becomes belligerent and resentful of his friend, treating him poorly, almost as if he can’t live with the guilt of his impotency in the face of danger, turning his own anger outward and projecting it onto Hassan. It’s as if every time he sees his friend, it can now only be a reminder of what he witnessed and he deliberately drives a wedge between them, seeking to have Hassan’s family banished by framing him with the theft of a watch.
Soon after the Russians invade and Amir and his father escape to America. We jump forward in time to where Amir as an adult (Khalid Abdalla) begins to woo the woman who will become his wife, Soraya (Atossa Leoni). His father’s health also begins to deteriorate and when an old friend of the family, Ramin Khan (Shaun Toub) contacts him from Pakistan, asking him to return, he feels indebted because it was he who encouraged Amir to continue pursuing his storytelling gifts - rewarded now with the publication of his first book - in the face of his father’s resentment.
The last third of the film focuses on Amir’s quest for redemption as he learns what has transpired in the intervening years. Ramin Khan reveals a long-held secret and also relays the news of Hassan’s death, leaving a son behind. Retrieving the boy from the clutches of the Taliban, after he was bought from an orphanage, now becomes the defining force which propels him onward in a final attempt to avenge his friend and make moral recompense for the act of depravity which changed their lives as innocent boys.
Hosseini’s novel was adapted by David Benioff, the acclaimed writer of 25th Hour on which Spike Lee’s film of the same name was based. He’s done a great job too in getting to the heart of the novel in what was always going to be a thankless task in adapting such a popular book to the screen. So few adaptations successfully convey the depths and nuances which literature provides in what is always going to be an abridgement of sorts. The brutality of the Taliban and their dehumanizing regime isn’t avoided in later scenes either with one shocking moment that'll leave an indelible mark.
The able cast helps the success of the film a great deal too under the direction of the prolific Forster, a Swiss-raised filmmaker who is churning out interesting and diverse films at a very regular rate! The Kite Runner can stand alongside his better films so far in Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball and Stranger Than Fiction, and he recently finished up production on the next James Bond film.
One of the best adaptations of a popular book in recent memory, The Kite Runner is an ultimately moving and powerful examination of family, redemption and the debt we owe to childhood - and the ties that bind us to it forever.
Vividly we are sent back in time to Afghanistan in the 70’s before the Russians invaded where Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi), the son of a wealthy landowner, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) is best friends with the son, Hassan (Ahmed Khan Mahmoodzada) of one of his father’s servants. Amir is seen as weak by his father, a boy more interested in artistic pursuits like writing silly stories, incapable of defending himself when approached by bullies in the street. Unlike the diminutive Hassan, who Baba admires for his tenacity, his spirit and bravery in the face of larger opponents.
It’s a struggle for Amir to earn his father’s respect, and he hopes his kite flying abilities in an upcoming tournament will assuage some of his father’s negativity and see him in a new light. He proves up to the task but when Hassan goes off on his own to track their kite down he is cornered by a pack of bullies and horribly assaulted whilst Amir looks on from a hiding spot in the distance, incapable of acting in his best friend’s defense, his lack of courage his fatal weakness.
It’s curious how their relationship falls apart after this defining incident. Amir becomes belligerent and resentful of his friend, treating him poorly, almost as if he can’t live with the guilt of his impotency in the face of danger, turning his own anger outward and projecting it onto Hassan. It’s as if every time he sees his friend, it can now only be a reminder of what he witnessed and he deliberately drives a wedge between them, seeking to have Hassan’s family banished by framing him with the theft of a watch.
Soon after the Russians invade and Amir and his father escape to America. We jump forward in time to where Amir as an adult (Khalid Abdalla) begins to woo the woman who will become his wife, Soraya (Atossa Leoni). His father’s health also begins to deteriorate and when an old friend of the family, Ramin Khan (Shaun Toub) contacts him from Pakistan, asking him to return, he feels indebted because it was he who encouraged Amir to continue pursuing his storytelling gifts - rewarded now with the publication of his first book - in the face of his father’s resentment.
Hassan and Amir as boys
The last third of the film focuses on Amir’s quest for redemption as he learns what has transpired in the intervening years. Ramin Khan reveals a long-held secret and also relays the news of Hassan’s death, leaving a son behind. Retrieving the boy from the clutches of the Taliban, after he was bought from an orphanage, now becomes the defining force which propels him onward in a final attempt to avenge his friend and make moral recompense for the act of depravity which changed their lives as innocent boys.
Hosseini’s novel was adapted by David Benioff, the acclaimed writer of 25th Hour on which Spike Lee’s film of the same name was based. He’s done a great job too in getting to the heart of the novel in what was always going to be a thankless task in adapting such a popular book to the screen. So few adaptations successfully convey the depths and nuances which literature provides in what is always going to be an abridgement of sorts. The brutality of the Taliban and their dehumanizing regime isn’t avoided in later scenes either with one shocking moment that'll leave an indelible mark.
The able cast helps the success of the film a great deal too under the direction of the prolific Forster, a Swiss-raised filmmaker who is churning out interesting and diverse films at a very regular rate! The Kite Runner can stand alongside his better films so far in Finding Neverland, Monster’s Ball and Stranger Than Fiction, and he recently finished up production on the next James Bond film.
One of the best adaptations of a popular book in recent memory, The Kite Runner is an ultimately moving and powerful examination of family, redemption and the debt we owe to childhood - and the ties that bind us to it forever.
Amir as an adult with his wife Soraya
Novelist Hosseini with director Forster
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