Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #350 in DVD
• Released on: 2008-06-02
• Rating: Suitable for 12 years and over
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Dutch
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 122 minutes

Amazon.co.uk review
Like the bestselling book upon which it's based, The Kite Runner will haunt the viewer long after the film is over. A tale of childhood betrayal, innocence, harsh reality, and dreamy memory, The Kite Runner faces good and evil--and the path between them, though often blurry and sorrowfully relative. Director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) presents a painterly vision of Afghanistan before the Soviet tanks, before the Taliban--lush, verdant, fertile--in its landscape and in its people and their history and hopes. The story follows two young boys' friendship, tested beyond endurance, and the haunting of their adult selves by what happened in their youth--and what horrors befall their country in the meantime. The performances of the two boys--Zekeria Ebrahimi (Amir) and Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada (Hassan)--are the film's strongest, unforced and gently evocative. The penance paid by their adult selves is foreshadowed, but never predictable--and the metaphor of innocence lost, a common theme in Forster's work, keeps the film, like the title kites, truly aloft. --A.T. Hurley

DVD Description
Based on the novel by Khaled Hosseini, The Kite Runner is a tale of friendship, family, devastating mistakes and redeeming love. In a divided country on the verge of war, two childhood friends, Amir and Hassan, are about to be torn apart forever. It's a glorious afternoon in Kabul and the skies are bursting with the exhilarating joy of a kite-fighting tournament. But in the aftermath of the day's victory, one boy's fearful act of betrayal will mark their lives forever and set in motion an epic quest for redemption. Now, after 20 years of living in America, Amir returns to Afghanistan under the Taliban's iron-fisted rule to face the secrets that still haunt him and take one last daring chance to set things right...

Synopsis
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. THE KITE RUNNER was adapted for the screen by David Benioff (THE 25TH HOUR), with much of the dialogue spoken in Dari, one of the primary languages in Afghanistan. Director Marc Foster (MONSTER'S BALL, FINDING NEVERLAND) does a deft job navigating the complicated story, which moves from Afghanistan to San Francisco and Pakistan (with much of the film actually shot in China), using many nonprofessional actors and a subtle score composed by Alberto Iglesias. Ebrahimi and Mahmoodzada make impressive debuts, with solid work by Abddalla, Leoni, and especially Ershadi.

Customer Reviews

Intense: not for the light hearted and has wrong age classification.
Most of the film is in Persian/Dari with subtitles, which may be more of an issue for some viewers than others. It tells the story of two Afghan boys, one rich, and one poor who enjoy a close friendship in Afghanistan on the eve of the Soviet invasion. They are keen kite flyers, although a personal dispute makes their friendship go sour just as the invasion is happening. One boy escapes with his wealthy anti-communist father to America, whilst the other remains in Afghanistan.

Years pass, and the refugee boy is now a successful published author living in America. He then receives a phone call, telling him that his friend is dead, and that there is something very important he should know about him which explains the close bond his father seemed to have with his friend. Also, the friend has gone on to have a son, who is now being kept as a slave by a Taliban commander following his fathers death. The refugee turned author must now re-infiltrate Afghanistan, now under Taliban control to rescue his friends son, and avoid being killed by the Taliban who will not take kindly to his American passport, or his clumsy mistakes concerning their strict interpretation of Islamic law.

It has to be said, this film has a number of very jarring violent and adult scenes that are much stronger than the ludicrous 12 classification. Early in the film, a boy is anally raped, and whilst we mercifully don't see the actual act, it is clearly implied. Also, there is a rather jarring scene where a woman in a burqa is stoned to death for adultery at a Taliban rally. During the escape from the Soviet invasion, a Russian troop points a gun at a convoy of refugees, and offers to let them go in exchange for sexual favours from the women. Needless to say, these themes and scenes are not very appropriate for 12 year olds.

All in all, the film is a very good show. It has some powerful themes and scenes, but it is not light viewing. If you like intense entertainment, this is for you. The infrequent but strong violence means its not one to watch with the kids, despite the rather tame seeming 12 classification. This film should at very least have been a 15.

A Very Emotional Journey
This film is very much worth going to see currently at the cinema. Without telling you too much, this film takes you into Kabul, Afghanistan, and follows the lives of two Afghani boys. One who is wealthy and lives with his father (Amir), the other his servant (Hassan), but both best friends. In a divided country, on the verge of war, Amir's father never fawlters to treat his servants (Hassan and his father) well (Although being from a different tribe and social class to him). Is there a reason for this? Although his father's warm hearted attitude towards them has never changed, Amir' (the wealthy boy's) attitude does change. His act of betrayal from fear marks both Hassan's and his own life forever. As a result, 20 years on, Amir sets about a quest for redemption, but is it too late?, or will he be successful in one last daring chance to set things right?

This story is full to the brim of lies, deceit, politics, negotiation, emotion, redemption etc. It's the best film on at the cinema at the moment. Sure, its slow in parts but gripping throughout, especially towards the end - Highly Recommended!

*If you are wandering why it is called The Kite Runner, and you're one of those who just doesn't like to watch the news about Afghanistan (I must say, I can't blame you), then I'll tell you why. The kite is used as a symbol in the film of hope, fun, competitiveness, but above all FREEDOM. When the taliban took over, they banned kite flying and subsequently took away the right of freedom.*

A challenging film to watch
I was already very familiar with the plot following the release of the best-selling novel. Yet I was surprised how different I found some of the scenes. I will only briefly discuss the book and the film together though as this review is for the film. The film is more visual in the second half of the film when I feel it is necessary, yet I found the relationship between Amir and Hassan explored more within the novel. There, that's it. Now for the film.

At 2 hours this is quite a lengthy film for its topic matter and it did feel like 2 hours, the time doesn't fly by. The young boy playing Hassan made it for me, he was tremendous. I didn't find the subtitles difficult, what was more of a challenge was the rapid change at times when in Afghanistan between languages - so one minute you're listening to English and then you're back to following subtitles. A touch confusing at times. The location is powerful, the images really bring things to life and it was wonderful watching all of the kites above the city.

One or two scenes are quite disturbing and as others have mentioned the classification seems inapprorpiate. I wouldn't be allowing a 12 year old to watch this film, even with parental guidance. It needs to be 15 certificate. The link between time frames was good - moving from the present at the start through his past back to the very same moment in time in the present worked well - it left no confusion whatsoever.

Had I not read the book I would find it very slow going - as was the book actually and I might have not continued watching it. It was only because I knew what was coming up that I stayed focused. The second half of the film however was excellent. Although the relationship between Amir and Hassan is established in the first half of the film, the strength of that relationship is tested more in the second half. Admirably so.

All tied up a little too neatly for me though but I did admire Amir's ability to stand up to his father-in-law. Amir's relationship with his father was lovely, it had changed so much once he moved to America and I found the scenes with him later on in the film quite touching. A film to make you think and one which I would recommend but as always, the book is better.