The Kite Runner: Movie Review (2008)

Directed by Marc Forster, written by David Benioff, based on Khaled Hosseini’s novel, 128 minutes, rated PG-13. In Dari with English subtitles.

Recently, two movies have explored the idea that children sometimes can be serious agents of destruction whose ability to ruin lives can be every bit as monstrous as anything wrought by an adult.

First came Joe Wright’s "Atonement," in which Saoirse Ronan, in an Academy Award-nominated performance for Best Supporting Actress (she doesn’t deserve it), plays Briony Tallis, a wide-eyed lass with a clipped blonde bob, a mean mouth and a tight-fisted gait who fancies herself as something of a writer.

When, in a fit of jealousy, she lies about something she saw in the movie’s key scene, she not only ruins the lives of young lovers Robbie (James McAvoy) and Cecilia (Keira Knightley), but she also sends Robbie to prison. Later, as an adult with a conscience, she makes an effort to atone for her sins.

Now, in Marc Forster’s "The Kite Runner," which is based on Khaled Hosseini’s best-selling novel, we have Amir (Khalid Abdalla), an Afghan living in the U.S. who also is a writer (clearly, this is not a good year to be a writer). As the movie opens, Amir’s new book has just been published, which is cause for only fleeting celebration when he must deal with the decisions he made in his past.

A telephone call comes that brings Amir back to his childhood, when he was a spoiled 12-year-old boy (Zekiria Ebrahimi) living a privileged life in Afghanistan with his father, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), whose affection and respect he could not earn. His best friend, Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada)--the son of his father’s long-time servan--was devoted to Amir in ways that Amir could only partly return.

Though Amir loved Hassan--initially, they are inseparable, often flying their kites in neighborhood competitions--Amir couldn’t handle the fact that Hassan possessed the sort of integrity and courage he himself didn’t have. And so, when push literally came to shove in a scene that finds Hassan being raped by bullies, Amir does nothing but silently watch and then retreat as the act plays itself out. Later, his mind poisoned by his inability to face his own deceit, he deceives Hassan further in ways that drive the young man and his family out of his life for years.

It’s in this extended flashback that "The Kite Runner" is at its best and most believable. The child actors, in particular, are superb, as is Ershadi as Amir’s father. But when the movie switches to the present and Amir finds himself traveling back to the now Taliban-ruled Kabul to retrieve Hassan’s son, the plot contrivances begin to hit hard, so much so that they detract from the otherwise engaging story.

Amir is seeking his own atonement, and in spite of the formidable odds stacked against him, the movie errs in that it goes too far out of its way to make certain he will have it, regardless of the implausibilities inherent in a few of the scenes that follow. In this way, the end of "The Kite Runner" feels disappointingly scripted, so it’s especially good news that many of its characters do not.

Grade: B-

View the trailer below: