rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2007
Directed by Marc Forster; produced by William Horberg, Walter F. Parkes, E. Bennett Walsh, Rebecca Yeldham; screenplay by David Benioff
Starring Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Shoun Toub, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada, Homayoun Ershadi
Based on the popular novel, not very much liked by me, 'The Kite Runner' tells an interesting story on the one hand, but turns out to be too neat on the other. It shows Taliban horrors on every possible occasion, like the viewer needs remembering, while nicely fitting predictable mysteries together. Yes, the story is engaging and time flies, but I hardly cared during the serious moments since they were pushed in my face.
The story starts in Afghanistan before the Russian invasion. Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) is the son of the rich Baba (Homayoun Ershadi). His playing mate is Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada), the son of Baba's servant. We get a good impression of the Afghanistan in this time. When the Taliban arrive Baba and Amir move from Pakistan to the United States. Hassan and his father were already gone from Baba's house for reasons I will not reveal.
In the United States, many years later, Amir, now married to Soraya (Atossa Leoni), receives a phone call from an old friend telling him "there is a way to be good again". We see events leading up to this phone call as well as what happens after it. The film shows the hard life of foreignres in the US, and gives an impression of living with the Taliban in power. The film hardly shows the US moment, especially how Baba and Amir get there, and does the opposite with the scenes in Afghanistan (now 1990), forcing things too much.
I recommend the film in a way. It is well acted and well produced, and it knows a lot about what it shows. But I was also bothered by the way things unfold. Of course the film can not help it that much, since the novel is followed pretty good, but the two hours simply seem to short to do the novel justice. Near the end an Arabic kind of song is playing, but it is sung in English, which is laughable and shows how the medium film can go terribly wrong at times. Other music, scored by Alberto Iglesias, luckily makes up for it.