The Kite Runner (2007)

Baba (Father): "Take care not to let these things fester. Time will only make it worse."

By Marc Forster
With Khallid Abdalla, Zekeria Ebrahimi and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada

I wanted to see The Kite Runner for a long time but it is only when I was seeing the IMDb for World War Z (2013) and realizing the director (who is Swiss, I didn't know that) also made The Kite Runner that I remembered I wanted to see it.

In the 70's in Kabul, Amir and Hassan are best friends. However, their friendship is unusual as Hassan is the son of the house servant while Amir lives with his wealthy father. Hassan and Amir love to fly kites and play a game where one manages to cut someone else's string to let their kite free and win it as a trophy. Amir doesn't stand up enough for himself in his father's eyes but Hassan is always here to defend him, while Amir reads stories to Hassan in return. Being the son of a servant and also belonging to a different ethnicity (Hazara), Hassan is bullied by an older boy. When the bullying gets bad, Amir withdraws his affection from Hassan and soon the soviet occupation happen. Amir and his father escape to Pakistan and then the USA. A few decades later, Amir is now a succesful writer but a phone call from an old friend will have him dig back in memories and places he never missed.

The first part of the movie with the boys in Kabul is really beautifully filmed and I would consider it the strongest part of the film. The story is interesting and full of political and historical context but those come out mostly in the second part. The first part is much more emotional and the friendship of the boys is complex and one's feelings can sometime be hard to decipher, but this might be the case with any young boy in such context.

I found the movie to get a little winded up, pardon the pun, once the father and son moved to America. The return to the homeland is good and contains a good dose of shock value on the political mindset of the early 2000's but it doesn't pair up with the first part in my opinion. The ending is sweet for those who enjoy an emotional ending I think this is how it should have ended. The main issue I have is how everything unfolds in a botched return and escape from Afghanistan.

I liked: Beautiful and touching. Such a different setting.

I disliked: The bullying and the aftermath are annoying. Weaker second part.

74/100
An original movie with a few loose ends but worth watching.