Based on the wildly popular novel by Khaled Hosseini that everyone in the world - save me - has read, The Kite Runner is one-third a remounting of Annie (set in Afghanistan), one-third an episode of 24, and one-third The Pianist. Unfortunately, collectively these thirds don't amount to much of a movie. At its core, The Kite Runner is a film about the ties that bind us all - ties of culture, of family, of duty. The strength in this movie is its opening third. The filming, the story and the acting of the boys Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and his best friend, the son of his father's servant, Hassen (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are great. The story and acting slip however - moving from what could have been profound into mere sentimentality - as the movie moves to America and Amir realizes he has a debt to pay to his childhood friend and half-brother by returning to the Taliban-controlled Kabul to rescue his nephew. Homayon Ershadi, as Amir's father, is outstanding, especially when he moves to America. The real challenge with the film is that it suffers a 'you-can-see-it-all-coming-miles-away' problem. When Amir carves the letters in the pomegranate tree with Hassen as children, we just know we'll be revisiting that tree later in the film when Amir returns during the Taliban regime. So who's to blame? The writer or the director? ...
For showing us what Afghanistan used to be like (and hopefully will one day be again), and for conveying the hope all immigrants have when leaving what they know for any new country to start again, my rating 5 out of 10.
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