The Kite Runner (***1/2)

Having seen Atonement the day before this, I thought the title could well apply to this adaptation of another best-seller, Khaled Hosseini’s semiautobiographical story based on his childhood in Afghanistan. The first hour mostly tells the story of young Amir’s friendship with a shy boy who was, nonetheless, his fierce protector. Also vividly portrayed is Amir’s father, a sophisticated, literate, man who nonetheless cannot repress his contempt for the boy’s cowardice. Although the father is only a supporting character, he is surprisingly multidimensional, and I wound up feeling that I understood him.

The relationship of the boys and their fathers (one works for the other) is not particular to the time and place. On the other hand, it may come as a shock to see the re-creation of 1970s Kabul, a place that, if not a sophisticated place, was nonetheless a place where a sophisticated man could find a niche. Also particular to the setting are the kite battles alluded to in the title. Director Marc Forster (Stranger Than Fiction, Stay) wonderfully captures this colorful custom of Hosseini’s youth. (He again collaborates with Stay screenwriter David Benioff.) It is before the Soviet invasion, before war, before the Taliban. Knowing about these things, the viewer awaits devastation that turns out to be as much emotional as physical.

The adult Amir (Khalid Abdalla), who has wound up in California, is a less vivid character, and plot and the prospect of returning to Afghanistan must sustain the film’s second half. Like Atonement’s Briony, Amir feels guilt but cannot undo the past, and so crafts an ending to his own story that will allow him to live with himself.

IMDB link

reviewed 2/24/08