User reviews

"The Kite Runner" is one of the most controversial films of the year, and it's not just one of those controversies invented by PR people to sell tickets. No, this is a film that was actually pulled from release because the producers began to fear for their safety of their actors. That may give you an idea of just how sensitive and topical some of the material is. "The Kite Runner" is an important film for our modern world, because now more than ever, we need stories that show the reality of war, not just action movies that glamorize the violence. It was adapted from the best-selling book, and some critics have charged that something was lost in translation, but if you don't bring the baggage of the novel into the screening, you will be very moved.

Greetings again from the darkness. Based on the mega-best seller from author Khaled Hosseini, the film provides us a peak at the ugliness of post-Russia invaded Afghanistan and the terror of the Taliban. Director Marc Foster adds a gem to his resume, which already includes "Monster's Ball", "Finding Neverland" and "Stranger Than Fiction".

The story of young friends Amir and Hassan and the unknown bond they share into the next generation. This is a story of honor and courage and loyalty and is an unusual coming-of-age tale. Some great scenes of the boys when they are kids and then a couple of truly amazing scenes as Amir returns as an adult to find Hassan's imprisoned son.

This is tight, compelling story telling with a message. The acting is solid throughout, with no one actor stealing the screen. Although not a pleasant story to watch unfold, it is certainly meaningful and heart felt. Plus a quick shot of Midnight Oil playing in the pool hall is a welcome gift.

I just watched this film at an advanced screening. I had not read the book, and knew nothing of the story, but went because the book was voted "Book of the Year" by two local colleges. So I cannot compare the book with the movie as others have done.

In short, I thought this was an incredibly moving story. The acting was believable, and the insight into Afghan culture and political history was both interesting and shocking. My oldest friend is Iranian-American, and so I felt an affinity for certain Middle Eastern values and traditions that were portrayed in the movie, as they reminded me of the times I spent with his family.

The themes of friendship, family, human values, and courage under fire are universal, and are well developed in the film. I won't list the plot details, as these can be obtained elsewhere. But based on the film's technical aspects, the acting, and, above all, its heart-wrenching story, I would definitely recommend this movie.

I recently was lucky enough to see "The Kite Runner" in a small theater, surrounded by seasoned movie-goers who knew how to enjoy a masterpiece of such sophistication. With all the controversy surrounding this film's central scene these days, I was expecting a piece both crude and violent. But the way Mr. Forster handled the delicate subject was touching and really, deeply moving. Even though the film's credits indicated China as the main location for the shoot, I could have sworn I was seeing Kabul throughout the scenes which are meant to be taking place in Afghanistan. The acting, by non-professionals as well as professional actors, is excellent and the casting is magnificent. So, this is a movie I would see again and again, because though it is undeniably sad in its subject, the masterful way it has been made awakens a whole new hope in modern cinema.

The movie was fine overall, but the story deserved a show , many details and instances were missed because it was a movie. The cast could have been better. Cinematography was amazing Direction and flow was very good The script needed more pain . As someone, who has read the book, it felt like everything happened too fast.

If you haven't read the book, do watch it To watch an amazing adaptation (watch looking for alaska)

The Kite Runner was beautiful, poignant and very moving. I particularly loved the two child actors in the film as well as the actor portraying the father. It really made me want to go back and read the book again.

The music was a wonderful part of the fabric of the movie. If there is a soundtrack coming out for the film, I will buy it to accompany my second reading of the book. It is also a visually stunning film. The cinematography was gorgeous and really added to experience.

The Brazilian word 'saudades' is very descriptive of how I felt at the end of the film..."it is a deep feeling of longing for someone or someplace, which is very sweet but also tinged with an inescapable sadness" (definition provided years ago by Antonio Carlos Jobim).

Saw it at a small cinema here for an advance screening. I would love to see it again on a really large screen with a tricked out sound system.

Can't wait for the formal release. I will definitely recommend the film to friends.

After seeing the prosthetic legs dropping from the sky by parachute in Kandahar (2001), one of the most memorable images in all of cinema, I wondered why there weren't more stories coming out of such a tumultuous country, tied to Americans forever by 9/11. And now I think I know why.

Such a beautifully-wrought adaptation of the wildly-popular novel of the same name, The Kite Runner is a model of fine film-making in almost all respects except one: It's too pat. So maybe Charlie Wilson's War will show me that films about Afghanistan will not revolve around formulae and clichés.

The redemption of the protagonist, Amir (Khalid Abdalla), has been told forever in literature and film, just not in Afghanistan. So no matter how tear-jerking the film may be, it is still a story told many times of a man who commits an egregious sin as a child but redeems himself in the end with an act of courage. Meanwhile, director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Beniof lace the film with the major motif, kite running, to such an ingenious extent that it not only ties in the hero's youth with his maturity, it also provides a figurative way of showing the desolation and hope of the country mixed of course with contradictory elements such as cutting string and blessed artificial legs.

Thus the film as metaphor is a success in showing the dismal past of a struggling country and its hopeful future. The cinematic images also emphasize this duality: The vistas with snow capped mountains and endless plains deflect the vision of a barren land where trees that manage to grow have been cut down by invaders, in this case 1979 Russia. The titular activity flourishes in large part because the arid, stony land offers few other possibilities. When the land is revisited in 2000, the limited country seems almost completely bereft of color and resources, a gray prison that parades adulterers to be stoned in the soccer stadium and little boys abused by an out-of-control Taliban.

But true to the formula, Amir has a second chance. I hope Afghanistan shares a similar fate.

In the 70's in Afghanistan, the Pushtun boy Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and the Hazara boy Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada), who is his loyal friend and son of their Hazara servant Ali (Nabi Tanha), are raised together in Amir's father house, playing and kitting on the streets of a peaceful Kabul. Amir feels that his wise and good father Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) blames him for the death of his mother in the delivery, and also that his father loves and prefers Hassam to him. In return, Amir feels a great respect for his father's best friend Rahim Khan (Shaun Toub), who supports his intention to become a writer. After Amir winning a competition of kitting, Hassam runs to bring a kite to Amir, but he is beaten and raped by the brutal Assef (Elham Ehsas) in an empty street to protect Amir's kite; the coward Amir witness the assault but does not help the loyal Hassam. On the day after his birthday party, Amir hides his new watch in Hassam's bed to frame the boy as a thief and force his father to fire Ali, releasing his conscience from recalling his cowardice and betrayal. In 1979, the Russians invade Afghanistan and Baba and Amir escape to Pakistan. In 1988, they have a simple life in Fremont, California, when Amir graduates in a public college for the pride and joy of Baba. Later Amir meets his countrywoman Soraya (Atossa Leoni) and they get married. In 2000, after the death of Baba, Amir is a famous novelist and receives a phone call from the terminal Rahim Khan, who discloses secrets about his family, forcing Amir to return to Peshawar, in Pakistan, in a journey of redemption.

I am not familiar with the Afghan culture and I did not read this novel in spite of the recommendation of my daughter, and yesterday I decided to watch this movie on DVD. I found a good story of loyalty, cowardice, betrayal and redemption, with a brief insight in the recent history of Afghanistan, from a peaceful period in the 70's to the present days with the Taliban. The actors and actresses have great performances, giving credibility to the realistic story. The arid locations in China recall the images we see in television from Afghanistan. In the end, I found "The Kite Runner" a good movie. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "O Caçador de Pipa" ("The Kite Chaser")

I know that to include everything in the book, the film would have to have been several hours long, so I think they did their best to include things that were crucial and pivotal to the story. I thought the casting was great, the children who played Amir and Hassan were very good actors. And the guy who played Amir as an adult was great! The scenes between him and Baba were especially touching. I thought the locations they used were interesting... scenes set in Afghanistan were shot in China, and one scene that took place in Fremont, CA (the graduation scene) was actually shot on Treasure Island in San Francisco. I worked one day as an extra on "Kite Runner" and it was that day, the day they shot the graduation scene. We reported to Treasure Island in the morning, they checked everyone's wardrobe to make sure it looked like the late 80s, an then we took our places in the audience. They shot the scene over and over again until they were happy with it. It was cool to see the actors up close and also to see the book's author, who was on hand as a story consultant. I thought this book was excellent and I recommend both the book and the movie to anyone. This is a moving story about friendship, love, guilt and eventual redemption. "There is a way to be good again."

First of all, the hype about The Kite Runner was wildly over-blown, and sadly, the movie is just as disappointing as the book. Most of the novel is outstanding, but it completely falls off a cliff at the end, and then closes with a happily-ever-after ending that seems just as tacked-on as the worst of the Hollywood offenders. True, the movie is remarkably faithful to the novel, but the whole story, especially because of the cartoonish confrontation at the end, gives me the feeling that it is little more than a childish revenge fantasy which is only legitimized because author Khaled Hosseini really can write.

I was an English major when I was in college, and one of the things that I noticed in any creative writing class that I ever took was that, because almost every single person wrote stories starring themselves (as Hosseini has clearly done and like, for example, Stephen King almost always does), many of them wrote stories about something bad that happened to them, in which they augmented the wrong committed against them and then issued a perfectly planned and executed retribution against their offender. This, ladies and gentlemen, is what you have with The Kite Runner.

Now, I won't say that Hosseini was bullied as a child lived in a harsh environment and therefore wrote a heroic story about that. Indeed the setting in Afghanistan and the oppressive atmosphere is both well-presented and an important, real life issue. But when the Taliban appears and starts stoning adulterous women to death in front of packed stadiums and bad guys parade little boys around in make-up and get shot in the eye with sling-shots, then it all becomes clear what's really going on.

I remember that the novel was extremely popular when it was released and I remember being at a loss to explain the fame after I read it. It is, indeed, a page-turner, but it has an unfortunately combination of amazingly realistic descriptions and situations with goofy, over-blown movie villains that gives the whole thing a feeling of being an artificial contraption drummed up by someone trying to make his way into the writing business. But hey, Hosseini has succeeded in making the artificial successful twice now, so maybe it's me who should take some advice. But I think it would be difficult for anyone to argue that Hosseini has succeeded as much in the quality of his story-telling as he has in the BUSINESS of story-telling. In that regard, this is definitely a success story!

I also feel like a lot of people are going to pick up on the arrogance of presenting America as this holy land, a paradise on earth where all you have to do is get there and everything will be okay. Of course, it is true of the little boy living under the iron fist of the Taliban, but it's that kind of thinking that has gotten America into a lot of trouble in the past. And I also love how Amir, our hero, goes to Afghanistan but doesn't know enough not to stare at a passing pickup truck full of bearded guys holding AK-47's. Smart.

And by the way, can I just say one thing? What is the deal with the Taliban? Those people are totally insane.

Oh, and the best thing about the movie is that little kid who played Hassan. He had the most important role in the movie and he was OUTSTANDING.

The Kite Runner should win an Oscar! It's perfect in every sense, the story, the script, the acting, the cinematography... One would never guess it was filmed in China. The story of two childhood friends and what follows in their adult lives will leave a lasting impression. The depiction of life in Afghanistan under the Taliban is all too real and horrifying. I have not read the book, but I have seen comments that put down the movie because "the book is always better"... It doesn't really matter. No one put down "Gone With The Wind" because it wasn't true to the book! As a matter of fact, it won the Academy Award for best picture and several other Oscars. I think this movie is brilliant - BRAVO to the writer and director, and the actors!

THE KITE RUNNER is one of these movies that' gains a limited release on the art house/ foreign language circuit is totally loved by critics and people who never pay a penny to watch a mainstream movie . It's also a film with a message and a deep subtext about friendship in the face of adversity which can be a rather hit and miss concept for a movie . Knowing this I delayed watching the film until tonight where I chanced upon it . It's a fair enough film though certainly not a great one

What the film does succeed in doing is not painting 1970s Afghanistan as some sort of third world cess pit . For an adventurous backpacker from the period it was a favourite destination on the Kathmandu - Istanbul " Hippy trail " and the Afghans are painted as sophisticated intellectuals whose only link to the past is in keeping with an honor system along with the portrayal of division among the differing Afghan tribes . Unfortunately bad things in both films and life happen to nice people and the upper class Baba and his young son Amir flee the Soviet invasion to Pakistan and there to America where Amir grows up to be a novelist unable to shake off a feeling of guilt about abandoning his childhood friend Hassan

THE KITE RUNNER also deserves slight credit for the portrayal of the Taliban . To quote Christopher Hitchens " They're not the wretched of the Earth - they're the scum of the Earth " They patrol the rubble of Afghanistan on beard patrols , provide half time entertainment during soccer matches by stoning adulterers and despite banning music visit orphanages to satisfy their lust for children ( Along with flying kites ) they're not above keeping a ghetto blaster or two for themselves

Why did I say " slight credit " ? To be honest I don't think the violent , stomach churning and often hypocritical theocratic tyranny of the Taliban was shown harshly enough . You can't give a dog like the Taliban a bad enough name and would have liked to seen the way they treat the inhabitants of Afghanistan . There's also a Pashtun character who is introduced early in the story and appears later in he film which gives the impression that the Taaliban are an Afghan organisation when in reality they're a Pakistani militia which invaded the country of Afghanistan in the mid 1990s . Many Pastuns did join the Taliban , but many didn't and they suffered by the regime along with Hazaras , Tadjiks , Uzbeks and the other Afghan tribes

Undoubtedly the biggest failing of the film is that I never felt engaged for much of the running time . It's difficult not to compare this movie with THE KILLING FIELDS since both movies feature a deep subtext of the bond of friendship enduring through adversity and war . . Of course THE KILLING FIELDS is based upon a true story whilst this merely based upon a novel . It's a film that's directed in a rather flat manner by Marc Forster which isn't necessarily a criticism because the acting is convincing and was shocked to find Khalid Abdalla is Glasgow born , I genuinely though he was an Afghan , but I was left with the feeling that despite THE KITE RUNNER being a fair movie it should have been a great and unforgettable movie experience

I just saw it at an advance screening I haven't read the book, but heard many good things about it.

The movie was absolutely fantastic, very moving. With a roller coaster of emotions you totally connect with the characters. Shaun Toub was great, it was a complete departure from his usual roles, and his acting for those who understand Persian/Dari was incredible.

One thing to notes it that Khaled Hosseini actually loved the film which is unusual for book adaptation movies. Even after seeing the movie several times "he was sobbing".

Also the animation from the intro was exquisite, with names displayed as if it were Persian calligraphy, very unique! At times the translation was not clearly conveying the message efficiently, but all in all this was a great movie.

I have read both the book and saw the movie today. The storyline is so powerful that almost any script or screenplay would have done justice to it. So nothing much there. However, this is still a beautiful movie because it makes one think and feel, just like the book. Watching it is not like watching a documentary on a failed state and feeling sympathetic towards people suffering under an oppressive regime, but is like watching any other common man's story unfold, across generations, across continents. Amir's cowardice, his guilt, his dilemmas and finally his choosing a way of redemption could have been a story of any of us. There isn't a single infallible character to look up to and idolize but all of them are gray, just like all of us.

Another important observation is that the movie does a great job of chronicling the lives of Afghans through the twenty some years of turbulent political scenarios. The vibrant, care-free childhood represents Kabul before the Russian invasion and the desolate, shattered remains of the city echo what the Taliban has done to it.

The child actors deserve 'thumbs up' all the way. They can put any matured actor to shame.

If you have not yet seen the movie or read the book, just walk into the theater keeping in mind that you are going to witness a multi-layered story woven on a multi-colored fabric of human emotions and sentiments. This movie is not meant to stir anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban feelings but to feel the trials of human existence.

I read some of the external reviews linked to the site and I must confess I do not see the point in writing reviews that summarize the storyline like a distant spectator and point out technical details about amazing cinematography or something similar. At least for this movie, one should try to connect to it rather than judging it objectively.

A fairly solid, mildly gripping drama dealing mainly in the unique perspectives of two Afghani children, The Kite Runner nonetheless feels overextended in it's third act and a tad unbelievable with some of the moral complexities which drive the film. Adapted from the novel by Khaled Hosseini, the movie did feel slightly less genuine then it should have in the hands of Marc Forster-an odd choice for directing, but not a surprising one, given the massive number of Middle Eastern-themed films targeted at American audiences being released over the next few years.

Despite some strong performances by most of the cast, including these two young children who guide the film's heart in the beginning and a dominating, charismatic turn by Homayoun Ershadi as one of the boy's fathers, the main character in The Kite Runner (relative newcomer Khalid Abdalla) simply does not exude the quiet strength needed to demonstrate his character's commitment, instead appearing rather puny and taking the overall thematic integrity from being emotionally involving to simply being interesting from afar.

The Kite Runner, the original novel of which I have not read, could have been a very powerful film if it were not swept up from the intense substance of its surface and up into the clouds where commercial sensibilities go about their stale algorithms. This takes nerve to say, I know, when it does not fear confrontation with its subject matter to the point of including a very bothering scene halfway through involving the rape of a very sweet, selfless and sensitive child. It is not that I would rather pick away at the film's characters being too plot- functional to have an emotional impact, because that is where the film remained on my good side. I enjoyed the movie because of the frustration, fulfillment, and sympathy ignited by each main character. For instance, I loved the character of the father, such a maverick willing to find the middle ground and combine principles but never compromising the fabric of his own existence.

However, the film is not memorable or affecting in the long term because of its, well, just a movie. Those three words declare silence to serious filmgoers who take cinema into account rather than jamb it at arm's length as a mere pastime like bowling, however those words are mere themselves as they are quickly forgotten by the speaker when serious movies successfully shake the nerves of the mainstream. A film, a real film, is a depiction of an idea, why and how that idea is expressed being left up to the particulars of the subject matter and every creative element applied by the filmmakers and actors to express or create an impression of the idea on film. The Kite Runner indulges weakly in the perspective of the careless attitude towards the effects of movies, those who tell you it's just a movie, not including your parents when you were young and shocked by Jaws or The Wolf Man.

The Kite Runner standardizes and thus shrinks the balls of its material. The film is compressed to a point where there are good guys and bad guys, which is why I lost my investment in the main character following his immature and parasitic reaction to what happened to his best friend, when I should not have judged him. In the introductory sequence of The Departed, Jack Nicholson says, "When I was your age, they used to say you could become cops or criminals. But when you're facing a loaded gun, what's the difference?" That should be the mantra of a story like this. Facing the terror and subjugation that suddenly comes crashing down on the lives of these reasonably peaceful people, we shouldn't judge the insensitive things they do. We should understand them rather than subjugating them ourselves in their portrayals.

Marc Forster is a very talented director. I normally don't care for high-tech directors of my generation but with films like Stranger Than Fiction and Finding Neverland, Forster created riveting and affecting visual portraits, but with The Kite Runner, he panders.

I have never read the book, but had always heard good things about it. So when the movie came out I considered going to see it, but never did. Now it has come out on DVD and I have thought of renting for a few weeks now. Last night I finally picked it up. I am very glad that I did.

Cinematography was incredible in this movie. The scenery, etc,... all made you feel like you were in Kabul. The acting was all very good, although I am sure some of the emotions were lost in the translation. And the story itself was good and pure and uplifting. Yes the story was very sad, but at the same time uplifting.

And I will be honest, as a white American,... made me see aside of Kabul and Afghanistan that I never picture in my mind when I think about it. Showed me a Afghanistan before the Taliban. Showed me a place that was beautiful. Showed me a place with good hearted people. I community that was like a family, aside from a few bullies.

Anyways, I recommend this movie to everyone. It is one of the best I have ever seen.