The Kite Runner: Movie, DVD, Blu-ray disc Review (2009)

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

Marc Forster’s "The Kite Runner," now out on Blu-ray disc, follows Amir (Khalid Abdalla), an Afghan writer living in the U.S. who, as the movie opens, 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 for "The Kite Runner" below: