moviereview - The Kite Runner

THE KITE RUNNER

	in 1978, pre Soviet Afghanistan, two young boys are the best of friends champion kite flyers. Then fate intervenes, shame turns to guilt, guilt to anger. Based on the book by Khaled Hosseini.	score 4+	moviereview rates films from 1 (unwatchable) to 5 (unmissable)
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Cast
Khalid Abdalla, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, Homayoun Ershadi, Nabi Tanha

Director
Marc Forster

Screenwriter
David Benioff

Country
USA (subtitles)

Rating / Running Time
M / 122 minutes

Australian Release
January 2008

Official Site

Two young Afghan boys, Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada), are the closest of friends. It’s 1978 – before the Soviet invasion, before the Taliban, before the Americans and the Australians. A time before chaos. It is also a time when young boys are still allowed to fly kites. Amir is particularly good at it but Hassan has the gift to find them when the fall from the sky. He runs the streets of Kabul and always arrives just before the kite lands. How he knows where to go is uncertain, he just does. And he does it for Amir.

Trust is the central prop of Marc Forster’s (Monster’s Ball, Finding Neverland) astonishing adaptation of Khaled Hosseini’s beloved novel. It is something Hassan requests of Amir early in the film, and a much older Amir does the same at the end. Here, at the end, is where the film starts in Los Angeles, when the newly minted author receives a call that takes him home, literally and metaphorically. The journey uncovers some uncomfortable memories and will place Amir in emotional and physical danger.

Back in the Kabul of his childhood, the sky is filled with kites, snowy rooftops are replete with gleeful children fighting and duelling in a city wide tournament – cutting the string of an opponent’s kite is a skill, and to have the last kite flying is an honour. The boys are in a winning position, Amir’s father looks on with pride, his servant Ali, Hassan’s father, does the same. They are family.

Forster deploys CGI to subtly recreate Kabul’s former glories and capture the freedom that kite flying represents. They’re elegant scenes that are a buoyant match for the vivacious, energetic life on the ground. The Kashgar region of western China stands in for Afghanistan, marking the first time China has been used to portray another country. In a land of rocks, Roberto Schaefer’s evocative cinematography paints a spirited portrait of times lost.

For all their differences – one is wealthy, the other poor, one is secular, the other religious – the boys share a profound love. Amir tells the story of a man who grew rich crying tears of pearl after killing his wife. “Why didn’t he smell an onion?” asks Hassan, innocently. Fate intervenes when, running the trophy kite for Amir, Hassan is bailed up bullies. A future Taliban cadet rapes him just as Amir arrives and, hiding, does nothing. Shamed by his cowardice, guilt turns to anger. He spurns Hassan’s friendship, throws fruit at him and plots to have the boy evicted from his father’s home. Despite the kindness of Amir’s father, the cruel plan works - it will take many years to atone for his deceit.

This region has produced some of the world’s most inspiring cinema in recent years: films like A Time for Drunken Horses that have the capacity to astound with their humanity and simplicity. Despite its Western backing, The Kite Runner is no different; philosophical tone and gentle determination creates a haunting, lyrical experience. Under Foster’s astute, straight-forward, somewhat traditional direction, a convincingly natural cast is lead by the startling performances of non-professional children. Seasoned actors would give their all for such talent.

Within a year, the Soviet Army has invaded forcing those who can to flee their country. Amir and his father are smuggled to America, Hassan is not so lucky; his family can not afford the luxury of freedom. The Kite Runner jumps two decades: Amir (Khalid Abdalla), now in California, has grown in to a sad young man, a college graduate who runs a market stall with his aging father. He meets the daughter of a former Afghan General and falls in love while their parents adhere to tradition and protocol. Together they forge a happy, successful life. Then he gets the telephone call.

Forster opens up a thrilling line of suspense with the return to Taliban controlled Afghanistan, a time when people sold their own limbs to survive. “This country is not kind to invaders,” his father once said and a more dangerous situation is hard to imagine. The war-torn country has been reduced to rubble, fear seeps from every scorched home, and sits behind every rock. Risking his life for an old friend, Amir encounters an old enemy and releases a chain of events that reignites the trust he thought had been lost.

In a multicultural society, The Kite Runner serves a dual function beyond entertainment. It unequivocally reminds us that everyone is someone and from somewhere. With screenwriter Neil Gaiman (The 25th Hour), Forster has created a mesmerising love story. Although it looses some air in its middle third, Amir’s father (Homayoun Ershadi), a lion in his homeland, a station attendant in his new life, balances the flagging effect of his troubled son. It’s a minor note in an otherwise utterly bewitching film. Gaiman’s script reduces the novel to its key elements; using Afghanistan’s recent turmoil as a backdrop to explore faith and hope, ethnic tension, sexual abuse, and redemption. They do it tenderly, authentically, magnificently. It makes you want to fly a kite in celebration.

// COLIN FRASER