Based on the international bestseller by Khaled Hosseini, 'The Kite Runner' is a fascinating historical epic set in 20th-century Afghanistan. In 1978, Amir (Zekiria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada) are young boys living in Kabul, where Hassan and his father, Ali (Nabi Tanha), work as servants for Amir and his father, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi). Amir and Hassan make an excellent team in kite competitions, with Hassan having a gift for running kites, but after one contest, he is bullied by Assef (Elham Ehsas), who does unspeakable things to him as Amir watches from a distance and then runs away, not helping his friend. As the Russians and then the Taliban take over Afghanistan, Baba and Amir escape to America, where they make a new home in San Francisco. But even as he graduates from college and meets a beautiful young woman, Soraya (Atossa Leoni), who is also from Kabul, Amir (now played by Khalid Abdalla) is haunted by his cowardice and can't turn down an opportunity to try to make things right when it is offered by his father's old friend Rahim Khan (Shaun Toub) -- even if it means risking his life.
Directed by
Marc Forster
Written by
David Benioff (screenplay); Khaled Hosseini (novel).
Starring
Khalid Abdalla (Amir); Atossa Leoni (Soraya); Shaun Toub (Rahim Kahn); Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada (Omar); Zekeria Ebrahimi (Young Amir); Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada (Young Hassan); Mir Mahmood Shah Hashimi (Business Man in Baba's Study); Homayoun Ershadi (Baba); Nabi Tanha (Ali); Elham Ehsas (Young Assef); Bahram Ehsas (Wali); Tamim Nawabi (Kamal); Mohamad Nabi Attai (Uncle Saifo the Kite Seller); Mohamad Nadir Sarwari (Spice Merchant); Mustafa Haidari (Party Worker). Please contact SFC to add other cast members and characters.
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Touching story of friendship that crosses both cultures and continents
Mark Banks (United Kingdom)
Opinion: Recommended
I have to admit that when I sat down to watch The Kite Runner I had little thought that it would make it into my Top 100, but that's just what has happened. Early on in the film I thought it was going to sway into a horrible pastiche of western sentiment sewn on to Afghan-Arabian culture, but that's not what emerged at all by the end of the film. I felt the director Marc Foster handled the story well in highlighting the tensions that exist between cultures, countries and generations without ever being forceful in communicating messages based on the importance of friendship, childhood, courage and honesty as well as simple freedoms and pleasures in life such as the joy of flying a kite.
