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The Kite Runner (2007)
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Overview
User Rating:
Release Date:
26 December 2007 (UK) moreTagline:
There is a way to be good again.Plot:
After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble. full summary | full synopsisAwards:
Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 13 nominations moreNewsDesk:
(64 articles)
Sundance Film Afghan Star Incredible (From Huffington Post. 4 July 2009, 6:13 AM, PDT)
Peter Dinklage Set to Play HBO’s ‘Game of Thrones’
(From FilmSchoolRejects. 6 May 2009, 10:14 AM, PDT)
User Comments:
I hope Afghanistan shares a similar fate. moreUS TV Schedule:
| Mon. July 6 | 3:15 PM | SHOW | |||
| Sun. July 12 | 5:45 PM | SHOW | |||
| Wed. July 15 | 10:00 PM | SHOW | more |
Cast
(Cast overview, first billed only)| Khalid Abdalla | ... | Amir | |
| Atossa Leoni | ... | Soraya | |
| Shaun Toub | ... | Rahim Khan | |
| Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada | ... | Omar | |
| Zekeria Ebrahimi | ... | Young Amir | |
| Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada | ... | 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 |
Additional Details
MPAA:
Rated PG-13 for strong thematic material including the rape of a child, violence and brief strong language.Parents Guide:
View content advisory for parentsRuntime:
128 minCountry:
USAColor:
ColorAspect Ratio:
2.35 : 1 moreCertification:
USA:PG-13 | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | UK:12A | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:IIA | Brazil:12 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Sweden:11 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Germany:12 | Finland:K-13 | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:M | Iceland:12Fun Stuff
Trivia:
Director Mark Forster mentions at 11:10 in the DVD commentary that his passion to make the film as authentic as possible was responsible for his insistence on filming Afghanistani characters speaking in Dari (with English subtitles). At 91:37 author Khaled Hosseini says "Iran and Afghanistan share a language -- they call it Farsi in Iran and we call it Dari in Afghanistan -- it's essentially the same language, but the accent is very different." He mentions at 97:38 that the speaker at the soccer game is speaking in Pashdu, the other main language of Afghanistan. moreGoofs:
Continuity: Rahim looks at the picture of Soraya, Amir's wife, and puts it down on the table (at 77:20), but we don't actually see where he puts it. In the next shot, the picture is not seen anymore. moreQuotes:
Amir: [explaining Sohrab's presence] You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant's wife, and she bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping in the other room is Hassan's son. He's my nephew. That's what you tell people when they ask. And one more thing, General Sahib: you will never again refer to him as "a Hazara boy" in my presence. He has a name, and it's Sohrab. moreSoundtrack:
Sare Naar Aamadaem moreFAQ
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After seeing the prosthetic legs dropping from the sky by parachute in Kandahar (2001), one of the most memorable images in all of cinema, I wondered why there weren't more stories coming out of such a tumultuous country, tied to Americans forever by 9/11. And now I think I know why.
Such a beautifully-wrought adaptation of the wildly-popular novel of the same name, The Kite Runner is a model of fine film-making in almost all respects except one: It's too pat. So maybe Charlie Wilson's War will show me that films about Afghanistan will not revolve around formulae and clichés.
The redemption of the protagonist, Amir (Khalid Abdalla), has been told forever in literature and film, just not in Afghanistan. So no matter how tear-jerking the film may be, it is still a story told many times of a man who commits an egregious sin as a child but redeems himself in the end with an act of courage. Meanwhile, director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Beniof lace the film with the major motif, kite running, to such an ingenious extent that it not only ties in the hero's youth with his maturity, it also provides a figurative way of showing the desolation and hope of the country mixed of course with contradictory elements such as cutting string and blessed artificial legs.
Thus the film as metaphor is a success in showing the dismal past of a struggling country and its hopeful future. The cinematic images also emphasize this duality: The vistas with snow capped mountains and endless plains deflect the vision of a barren land where trees that manage to grow have been cut down by invaders, in this case 1979 Russia. The titular activity flourishes in large part because the arid, stony land offers few other possibilities. When the land is revisited in 2000, the limited country seems almost completely bereft of color and resources, a gray prison that parades adulterers to be stoned in the soccer stadium and little boys abused by an out-of-control Taliban.
But true to the formula, Amir has a second chance. I hope Afghanistan shares a similar fate.