The novel The Kite Runner was an international success owing, I imagine in large part, to the humanist way that it examined race relations and class struggle in Afghanistan during a period of time when The United States and other Western nations were met with nothing but a barrage of negative images surrounding a nation that they were very ignorant about. Marc Forster's "The Kite Runner" was therefore one of the most anticipated films of the year, but unfortunately one of the biggest disappointments.
I remember reading the novel when it first came out--I was probably too young to have done so, but that can't be changed--and I remember how moved I was by the interactions between two young boys in this unknown wasteland. I was 13, still naive and the book left a profound impact on me and my ideas of punishment and guilt. The characters were rich and alive, the story compelling and its themes, like one of the fables that the young Amir wrote, seemed timeless.
In the heart of Kabul the weak and privileged Amir lives with his father, Baba, who is the epitome of the Afghan man. He is strong, proud, intelligent, well-liked and very tactful. They live in a lovely house and Amir wants for nothing but his father's affection. He has his love but not his respect, and if Afghanistan respect and honor is paramount.
The two have servants, Ali and his son Hassan who, because of their minority status remain as the help though Baba treats them as close to family as society will allow. Amir and Hassan are friends, though how much of that is convenience on Amir's part goes relatively unexplored. Still, they spend their time together seeing American Western flicks and fighting kites with the other boys in the city. Although it is questioned, there is genuine affection in their eyes. Hassan tells Amir that if he asked he would eat dirt for his friend.
But a very brutal act of violence tears the two apart as Amir's shame and cowardice drives him to abandon Hassan who shows nothing but unquestioning loyalty. Then, during the Soviet invasion he and his father make a desperate flee from the city to America where they live, Baba now working at a gas station and Amir going to school to become a writer.
Time passes, Amir gets married and Baba falls ill. It is the general nature of life and it goes unquestioned. A fateful letter, however, awakens Amir to his past and the wrongs he has done, and gives him the chance to return to Kabul to undue the mistakes he made and prove that he is the man his father always hoped he would be.
Structurally the story is magnificent as it came from a beautifully penned book, but there were many flaws that made it impossible for the film to resonate emotionally. What was so essentially needed was the time for the story to breathe and explore the culture that is so vastly different than our own. Much of this story is based on etiquette and the differences in social standing between the Pushtuns and the Hazaras which drive much of the interrelationships of the Afghan people. This movie was incredibly weak at doing anything but speaking lines addressing the conflict. The politics in this film needed to be demonstrated, but instead were alluded to in conversation which was obviously done as the filmmakers' attempts to say to the audience, "This is the conflict and this is why it is important." Doing that, however, does not strike the audience or cause them to think. It makes us aware, but aware in a way that a physics teacher might say "e=mc^2" and expect you to know the significance of what energy means.
I found it both fascinating and incredibly frustrating that Afghan culture was revealed more while the characters were in California than in the Middle East, and even more so that they did this without juxtaposing it to the the Western World. If one wished to talk about the inner-workings of a nation then do it in the country where it feels most natural and most believable to the audience.
Apart from that the performances were mediocre at best. The script felt very forced and unfortunately the actors were not skilled enough to cope with iffy material. The consequences of this meant that true nature of the interactions became ambiguous, driven down to cliches and Acting 101. The lack of believability destroyed any sort of power that one might have felt in the final scenes when Amir returned to the Taliban-controlled Kabul. It was many years ago that I read the book and I do not remember my final thoughts on Amir and his sense of pride, but watching the film I never once saw him as a hero. His actions as an adult were heroic, but his motives never felt like anything more than obligation. This is a story about coming full-circle, about making amends and restoring faith in justice, but to me our "hero" continued on in his shameful line unchanged.
2/4
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