Verisimilitude is a key attribute in The Kite Runner. It's a forceful and moving portrayal and, if any acting nominations emerge from The Kite Runner, Ershadi would be the most likely. From an acting perspective, the standout is Homayon Ershadi, whose interpretation of Baba humanizes and softens the character from his counterpart in the book. Khailid Abdalla was one of the terrorists in United 93 and Shaun Toub has provided supporting portrayals in a number of movies and TV programs. The older performers have more substantive resumes, although many will be unfamiliar to U.S. That's one thing that differentiates it from many high profile motion pictures working with similar themes.įor the most part, the young actors are working on their first project in front of the camera, and their performances are without awkwardness or artifice. The Kite Runner is a well-told story, not an exercise in manipulation. The movie is not littered with perfect victims - every character harbors shades of gray - and sentiment is kept to a minimum. Guilt and redemption are universal themes, and they are handled in a manner that even cynics will find compelling. It doesn't demand a leap of faith to accept these characters and their circumstances, and the emotional journey of Amir is something that, at its core, is easily related to. One of the great strengths of The Kite Runner is that it doesn't fake or sugarcoat anything. What he learns when he arrives not only shakes the steady foundations of his sense of family but forces him to undertake a risky mission as a way of repaying his debt to Hassan, who never once blamed Amir for turning his back. Amir is initially reluctant but eventually agrees. ![]() He receives a call from an old friend, Rahim Kahn (Shaun Toub), who urges him to return to Afghanistan. More than 20 years later, Amir (Khalid Abdalla) is a newly-minted author living in California with his wife, Soraya (Atossa Leoni). Later, he seeks to relieve the guilt not by seeking forgiveness but by acting deceitfully to get Hassan dismissed from his father's service. Baba's concerns are proven valid when Amir sees an act of violence perpetrated on Hassan by local bullies, but does not act. Hassan, however, will not back down despite his diminutive size. He sees in Amir a child who will not stand up for himself or what is right. However, Amir's father, Baba (Homayon Ershadi), is concerned about his son. Boyhood friends Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are inseparable despite their class differences - Amir is the son of a wealthy landowner and Hassan is the son of a servant. The film begins in the era before the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. By setting this in pre-9/11 Afghanistan, the production provides the viewer with a gut-level perspective of how repressive the Taliban was. Would that all of us were provided with such a chance… (Although, to be fair, most of our iniquities pale in comparison with those displayed in The Kite Runner.) The film shows the amazing capacity human beings have both to harm and to heal. It's about a boy who commits a terrible injustice but is given an opportunity as a man to redress his sins in a direct way. ( The Kite Runner, it should be mentioned, will be in the running in several categories.)Īs the many who have read the book are aware, this is a tale of betrayal, cowardice, and redemption. The Kite Runner touches the heart and the mind - something increasingly rare in any movie not made with the express intention of winning Oscars. Time constraints have forced some changes and contractions but, on the whole, it's hard to imagine a more effective and affecting adaptation. In the case of The Kite Runner, director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Benioff have taken pains to provide the best screen representation possible of Khaled Hosseini's best-selling novel. When a movie is made based on a book that millions of people have read, the first question asked often pertains to the faithfulness of the resultant cinematic product to its written inspiration.
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