Marc Foster’s film ‘The Kite Runner’ is a fine film that does justice to Khaled Hosseini’s sweeping, exquisite novel, with the screenplay adaptation by David Benioff.
In a way, ‘The Kite Runner’ tells a similar story to the British film, ‘Atonement’. Both films are about people who ‘drop the ball’ with someone very important in their lives. In ‘The Kite Runner’, it is young Amir, who isn’t there for his best friend, Hassan, When Amir grows up, circumstances see that he is in the position to make amends for the lack of backbone that he displayed in his childhood.
We see the film through Amir’s eyes, which is an interesting perspective to have. As a grown man Amir has settled into a good life in California with an attractive wife, a successful writing career and a lovely home. His very comfortable life is thrown into a state of flux when he receives a distressing phone call from Hassan’s father asking hm to come back to Afghanistan to sort some issues out. Amir feels that he has no choice but to go! What he finds when he goes back home is a true and dark awakening!
This was such a rich film…the vivid portrayal of life in the old and new Afghanistan… the terrible influence of the Taliban (there are some shocking scenes)… the complex relationship between Amir and his father…the secrets in the family closet that come out…the joys of childhood, especially kite flying, yet faced with the spectre of bullying and stand-over merchants…the master and servant relationships within the family home…the poeticness of the script and the great cinematography of the Afghanese landscape…
The cast performed strongly with the stand-out being Shaun Toub as Rahim Kahn who gave a haunting performance as Amir’s proud and resolute father.
Like the kites that Amir and Hassan flew as children, ‘The Kite Runner’ is a film that truly runs away with you.
