The Kite Runner
Sunday, March 23, 2008
The Kite Runner
It is difficult not to compare when you are reviewing a film adapted from a popular selling book, and one of my favorite books of all-time at that. The Kite Runner is one of those books adapted into a film because of the popularity of the books, somewhat like the success of the Dan Brown books. Running out of ideas, Hollywood just couldn't resist the temptation of grabbing the book off the shelves and adapting it into a film, and such an attempt usually ends up in a train wreck when given to the wrong directors. But when the project was first announced last year, and the name Marc Forster was tagged to the production, hope was reignited because of the quality of his previous works. I am personally not familiar with Monster's Ball, but I am quite a fan of Finding Neverland and Stranger than Fiction, both films that were superbly done by a relatively new director. However, adapting the brilliant book into film proved to be his downfall - in some ways.
It is difficult not to compare when you are reviewing a film adapted from a popular selling book, and one of my favorite books of all-time at that. The Kite Runner is one of those books adapted into a film because of the popularity of the books, somewhat like the success of the Dan Brown books. Running out of ideas, Hollywood just couldn't resist the temptation of grabbing the book off the shelves and adapting it into a film, and such an attempt usually ends up in a train wreck when given to the wrong directors. But when the project was first announced last year, and the name Marc Forster was tagged to the production, hope was reignited because of the quality of his previous works. I am personally not familiar with Monster's Ball, but I am quite a fan of Finding Neverland and Stranger than Fiction, both films that were superbly done by a relatively new director. However, adapting the brilliant book into film proved to be his downfall - in some ways.
The Kite Runner begins with the story of two young boys, Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada), in Afghanistan in the eve of the communist invasion. Amir is the son of a successful Afghan business man, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi). Hassan is the son of the faithful house servant, Ali, who has been Baba's servant for almost forty years. Aside from being best friends, Hassan is also Amir's partner in the annual kite flying competition that happens in Kabul, where the children of the city would compete for the best kite flyer. The tradition of the game involves the kite flyer to cut the string of the other kite, and it is basically a fight till the last kite flying. The last kite to be cut down would be the goal of most of the children in the city, because chasing it down would gain you the utmost respect and honor. Hassan is the best kite runner in the city, and on the day that Amir won the kite flying competition, Hassan ran ahead of the pack to catch the kite for him. That was also the same day when Hassan made a sacrifice for Amir so big, that Amir became afraid to face Hassan afterwards, and even grew to become resentful of Hassan.
Due to the invasion of the communists, Amir and his family were forced to become refugees, and they eventually ended up in America where they led a decent life. Baba became the owner of a store at the flea market, and occasionally earned some many from behind the counter at a gas station. Amir became a successful author and married the daughter of an Afghan general. Things were going fine, until an old friend called from Pakistan, telling Amir to pay him a visit. It turned out that Hassan had a son, named Sohrab, and rescuing him from Afghanistan would be Amir's only way to redeem himself from the past he dared not face until now.
Being just two minutes over two hours, admittedly it was inevitable to give up a lot of materials from the book. However, the screenwriter David Benioff still managed to keep intact the three main arches of the film, and the pivotal scenes throughout the book. The three arches, the life in Afghanistan while Amir and Hassan were still young, the life in America and then the trip back to Afghanistan towards the third part of the film, still remained faithful to the book. However, the problem with this adaptation was probably how various scenes were diluted and perhaps filtered to make it suit a wider audience out there. While reading the book, it was almost impossible to imagine a faithful adaptation to be anywhere near a PG-13 rating, because it is quite a gory book to begin with. It was a concern of mine to be honest, and I guess my concerns came true as I watched the film and saw how many areas of the book were deliberately censored or edited to feel less provocative, or less disturbing.
A particularly scene that was particularly toned down was the scene at the stadium where the woman was stoned to death for adultery, I believe. I remember that scene in the book being a lot more impacting than what I saw in the film, a lot more poignant. But the scene in the film ended a little too hastily, and seemed as if the director was too afraid to show a little bit more than droplets of blood on the floor. Of course, the power of a scene should not be judged by the amount of blood it had, but I thought more than the blood, the emotional attachment in that scene was greatly discounted. Other than that scene, my favorite scene from the book was also diluted in the film. It is the pivotal scene in the story, the one with Hassan in the dark alleyway that changed both their lives forever. I shall not give away spoilers here, but let's just say that part of the book blew me away like no other books did before. In the film, however, that scene became just a bunch of quick shots and messy editing, various sound effects amongst other techniques to diluted the disturbing imagery placed forward by the book. It was quite a disappointment, on my part. I mean, they didn't even mention the significance of the decapitated goat!
With that said, however, it is not to say that The Kite Runner was a failure at all. True to the theme of the book, the film addressed the issues of redemption, of sacrifice, or loyalty, of friendship to a great and detailed degree. It is easy to hate the character of Amir in the film, but at the same time it is not difficult to understand him either. Every character has a darker side to them one way or another, and it becomes very easy to relate to their flaws. The director certainly did a great job at not sugar-coating any aspects of these character flaws, and presented them in the most honest manner possible. The theme of friendship, especially, was particularly dealt with in between the young actors at the beginning of the film. You truly feel the love in between the two boys, the kind of mindless admiration Hassan had for Amir without doubts or questions. Some may argue that The Kite Runner may have manipulated the story too much, making it unrealistic and too coincidental in a way. Finding out the twist in the end of the film would make one believe in that statement easily, but I feel that those coincidences were definitely necessary for the development of the story as a whole.
In terms of the performances, I thought the actors did a decent job across the board, though a lot more could have been asked from the main actor, Khalid Abdalla, who played the older version of Amir. I thought for the most part of the film, he was little detached from his character. I remember feeling this excruciating pain and guilt for Amir as he read the letter from Hassan in the book, but the same cannot be said for the actor in the film. He was powerful in certain scenes but not the same in the others, a rather uneven performance there. In relative, however, the child actors were simply amazing. To think that they had zero backgrounds in acting would be amazing, because they delivered even better than their adult counterparts. Hassan and Amir were brilliant, truly credible for their efforts. I thought, also, that a better actor could have been found for the character of Sohrab. His subtle and laconic acting ruined the final scene for me, in a way. It could have been a whole lot better. Atossa Leoni was pleasant to look at, and I was too distracted to notice if her performance was good or not. She's just too cute.
Another noteworthy performance was probably from actor Homayoun Ershadi, who played as Amir's father. It was an interesting take on the character, a departure from the book's hard and stern character. Homayoun managed to inject a softer side to his character, and it was truly heartbreaking to see his performance onscreen, changing from a man with much wealth to a man behind the counter at a gas station. But the thing about his character was how he never lost his pride or his honor, and Homayoun truly brought forth this aspect of the character really well. I think, perhaps a little humor or wit would have made his character a little more interesting, but nonetheless he still did a fantastic job.
The Kite Runner was a good adaptation, but not great. The condensed version in the film certainly gave justice only to certain aspects of the book, but not everything. Aspects of it felt empty, or hollow even, while others were sometimes rushed. A better editing and polishing of the film could have produced a better film, but I guess not a lot can be changed at this point. Still, despite the few complaints that I have for the film, I still must say that the critics in general have been too harsh on this film. This film set out and did what it wanted to do, and I feel that the themes of the story were brought forth in the best possible way. It certainly does not deserve the score on Rottentomatoes.com, and look to IMDB.com for a better and more accurate rating. And as for recommendation of this film to others, most definitely. This is a moving experience, albeit not as impacting as that of the book. Still, noteworthy and remarkable indeed.
8/10
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