Movie Review: The Kite Runner

yes the second half was a little melodramatic and a little improbable -- but still what a powerful message -- how a country was destroyed by two fundamentalists -- the Islamist fundamentalists and the Marxist fundamentalists -- who destroyed their own beautiful country as the proxies for two cruel world powers.

I think in Afghanistan the bigger culprit is the United States of America -- they let the Genie out of the Jihadi bottle armed it to the teeth for the destruction of the Soviet Empire.

The Genie went berserk it destroyed the Soviet Empire -- made the world unipolar -- with no checks and balances -- then it felled upon itself and totally destroyed its own country, then felled upon its benefactors and leveled the US towers -- fractured the tribal area separating it from Pakistan -- ruined the Kashmir valley -- and gutted Iraq -- refusing to go back inside the bottle -- and still rampaging from Iraq now to Islamabad....thanks to the two right wing illiterate morons the B actor Ronald Reagan and the C student George Bush the junior.

The road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions. And THAT indeed will be an Oscar winning movie.

The first half of this movie was Oscar material. The

kids did a superb job.

The second half was not as good but it kept my interest.

This was certainly not an easy movie to make, but I am

sure glad that it was done.

Ras

wasn't shot by a desi.

This film's director, producers and financiers were from hollywood.

The director is Marc Forestor, the guy who is shooting the new bond film, who shot monster's ball (got halle barry her oscar), who shot finding neverland with johnny depp....

and yes, they were dishonest with the kids.

One of the masterpieces of 2007. Oscar material.

Father and his servant son performance superb -- though the kid should have been told that a rape scene was being enacted -- desi dishonesty I guess -- the kid was anware, came to know later -- when threats appeared in Kabul that he will harmed if he goes to Afghanistan.

"Hassan does find the kite and intends to present it to Amir as a gesture of his friendship and loyalty. But in the process he encounters Assef and his gang and this time he is without his slingshot. He still refuses to give up his kite and is assaulted instead while Amir stands at a distance and does nothing to assist him. It appears that this loyalty and friendship is one-sided, and that fact eats at the heart of cowardly Amir, the writer of Dastaan’s (Stories). Amir even lies to his father to get rid of Hassan, his servant friend, after that incident. But the guilt factor still haunts and accompanies him all the way to America."

Those few sentences are so meaningful to me. They almost made me cry. They probably represent of what today's Muslims are going through.

wow...look at all the red flags.

I wonder what is so offensive about these posts ?

The kite runner was a brilliant piece of fiction...certainly one of the best i have read along with 'a time to kill' by john grisham. the book beautifully captures the life in kabul before the war.

while i am sure i will be disappointed with the movie (as someone rightly said that its difficult to capture everything in 2 hrs), i will still watch it once it is released in the uae.

Re: # 20 Anil Sahib,

I shall forward your suggestion to my other nicks, and strongly reccomend they act accordingly :)

Who knows, maybe they will listen after all. There is hope.

I am so hopeful infact, I could write a whole book on hope. Oh wait, Obama's already done that.

Hurricane Sahib:

Your optimism shows in your and your Salim Sahib incarnate's abilities under all situations. And I love to read the creativity it produces.

It is just that, at times, I also wish, if your Salim incarnate will abandon the strategy of Nuking U.P.'s Innocent Women, and instead adopt Something South of the Dirty Bomb strategy.

Creativity may get a new dimension in 2008.

Re: # 18 Anil sahib,

your optimism is commendable. And I am a super gullible, highly optimistic type, so it means something coming from me.

But see, you are mixing categories.

It can be nominated as best picture, but not as best documentary.

And in best picture, the field is crowded.

Now there are other categories in which it may or may not pick a nomination / award (cinematograpy, visual effects, score, etc).

Although I already see better movies in all of those categories.

There is one chance though.

If it is nominated as a foreign film.

Yes, in that case, it has a very strong chance.

Re: # 15

Hurricane sahib:

There is nothing wrong in wishful thinking in that case. Even if you want me to come back to the reality zone.

2005 Oscar was won by a similar Indian movie. Lagaan did not win in the same year. I cannot remember the name of this movie now. I saw it. You might recall it.

It was about the children of Calcutta's prostitutes, and the efforts of an American college student stayed back to try to get them admitted into schools and through it dreams and future. In this movie, mothers of several kids did not want them to go to school, and many kids themselves did not want to go. Some returned and about four remained in the school. The rest fell by the way side to various lures and pressures.

Again a beautiful story of partly fulfilled dreams and part failures.

Isn't this a true life?

I wish, my wishful thinking has enough power to get Kite Runner an Oscar. You know who I will be rooting for if it gets nominated. I do not easily give up Hurricane sahib.

Re: # 16 hamidm2 sahib

no wonder I got your hissay ki gaalian on UP....it seems that we share the fondness for ellipticals to ....punctuate our pontification.

through my various incarnations, I have sometimes been mistaken for your highness....and have born the brunt...but lived to tell the tale :)

Re: # 15

hurricane mian,

...... you are right - this movie won't be nominated or win any awards ..... with a beter director it could have ..... the guy who played the father is an awsome actor - hopefully hollywood will 'discover' him .....

..... 'no country for old men' .... now that is a winner! ..... will try and catch 'blood' this weekend - it sounds promising ......

Anil sahib,

since this is no documentary, it has to duke it out with "No Country for Old Men" and "There will be blood"...it does'nt stand a chance.

Re: # 13

Hurricane Sahib:

I know this movie lacked the professionalism and showmanship of Hollywood / Bollywood.

In the documentary, foreign films categories these seem to be discounted. And 2008 being an election year, this being a politically correct movie etc. etc. , I would say a lot is riding in its favor to pursuade Liberal Oscar types to conservative rights. Please think about these factors.

Anil Sahib,

there is absolutely no chance that this film will get an Oscar. I can wager a lot on that.

This was an okay movie...the kite scenes could have been better. The story worked really well in the novel, but in the movie, it didn't work so well.

The only redeeming quality of the movie was the actor who played the father. He is a Persian Jeremy Irons.

Re: # 11

Hurricane (ji) or (sahib):

I think this movie will get Oscar in 2008.

Re: # 9 hamidm2

"i thought the guy who played the father did a great job; "

indeed. What a marvelous job. I hope he wins an award for it. Hopefully a significant American award :)

Hamidm sahib:

This movie was a treat from my younger daughter. She is reading A Thousand Splendid Sun. I will be next in line. Right now I am reading "The Suicide of Reason", and "The Valley Boy". My eldest daughter studied Persian and Arabic and is into Persian movies. I have to find out more from her. At one time she was talking about an Iranian director.

Re: # 7

anil,

..... you should read 'a thousand splendid suns" - you and your girls will really like it ...... i thought the guy who played the father did a great job; i have seen him in a couple of iranian movies - he is a great actor ..... check out some iranian films - inspite of the al-lah damned mullahs they still manage to make some good movies ........


ras, it would have been much much better if they had made the film in afghanistan or pakistan ..... for those of us who are intimately familiar with the area, it was painfully obvious that it was not afghanistan - it looked like, well, china .............but, i guess infidel filmakers are chicken who, unlike the true believers, fear death

This Review was previously published in Dawn Images Magazine

There is a lesson for many readers here in this movie who

often get hit by the nostalgia that is the baggage of all

immigrants.

There were problems during our childhood too. But there

was also the Patang or Guddi. I remember running after

kites myself in the streets of Karachi & Rawalpindi and

on my visits to Lahore.

There is something about those memories..

Like Jagjit Singh singing Kaghaz Ki Kashti.

Life is rich in sentiment. Damn the politics...

Ras

What fascinated me about Kite Runner the most were:

the unbreakable loyalty bond and tolerance the servants kid had.

do not know why the hero hid the watch under the mattress.

the pride the servants family had, and they left even when the master wanted all forgotten.

Right from the beginning I sensed the guilt in the master, as he showed compassion toward's the kid.

Finally, I loved the part when the boy comes over, and the roles swtiched - boy was flying and the hero holding the churkhi.

Wonderful movie.

I read The Kite Runner a while back and I was really disappointed that it was going to be transformed on the screen. I honestly do not recall Hosseini overplaying the Pashtuns as all Taliban in the book Zakkk. Perhaps I should look at that again.

Thank you Ras, for the review.

And hamidm, I finally did watch Sweeney Todd after not wanting to because of the violence. Very very good movie.

I disliked the overplaying of the pashtuns as all taliban and bad people stereotype that Husseni implies in the book and movie.

........... i did not like the second half of the film - the adult actors, with the exception of the father, were mediocre ...... the book was much better - it is hard to capture all the details in 2 hours .........

...... his second book, "a thousand splendid suns",is an excellent read ....... my fifteeen year old finished it in two days and thinks it is better than the 'kite runner' ...... i am half way through and it took me only four trips to the library (mrs hamidm has always worried about my bowel movements and i do have a patent on a la-zy boy toilet)

....... if you like musicals, "sweeny todd" is a great movie (you just can't go wrong with johnny depp) ....... stay away from atonement even if you are an ian mcewan fan - we were the youngest couple in a packed theater and everyone took a nice nap, some even snored ......... i cried over the price of popcorn .......

I have read the book but have not had the chance to watch the movie till yet. However your review is so good i wanna watch it tonight!!!

I'll be surprised if this film doesn't end up in my 'Five Best' of 2008 as it surely will. I found it so powerful both in execution as well as in addressing the subjects raised and it's made me even more determined to read the book. Quite stunning.

There is a bit of the kite runner in all immigrants I think. So no wonder the book in particular was a big hit in the US, the land of immigrants.

I enjoyed the movie very much, and am told the book is even more enjoyable because it goes into greater depth than a movie ever could.