The Kite Runner

A movie I've been anticipating since the book's release has been Kite Runner. Now it looks as though the release date has been pushed back for six weeks. The reason: to protect the children involved in the movie.

The book doesn't exactly put the main characters in a comfortable position. For one, the story takes place in Afghanistan. Two, the boys are of different classes and while friends, must act as unequals. Three, one of the boys witnesses the other being raped and keeps mum about it. The book deals with very sensitive topics especially considering problems in the Middle East and the taboo topic of boys being raped. Needless to say, the story is an amazing one, just watch the trailer at the bottom of this post. It's a story that deserves to be told despite it's sensitive nature.

The plot provided by www.wikisummaries.org:
Amir, the main character in Khaled Hosseini’s novel The Kite Runner, witnesses the racially motivated sexual assault of his friend/servant Hassan, perpetrated by a gang of neighborhood bullies. Hassan is a Hazara, a minority ethnic group of Shi'a Muslims. He is attacked by a group of Pashtun boys, lead by Assef, a young boy who heavily identifies with Hitler’s doctrine. After this attack, Amir feels deep guilt and shame, which causes him to shut Hassan out of his life.

Amir attempts to move on with his life. He tries to be the son his father always wanted, but is constantly reminded of Hassan. Even after he and his father, Baba, flee Afghanistan during the Russian occupation and find a new home in America, Amir still cannot rid himself of his memories and regret.

Amir flees to America, marries a Afghan woman, and becomes a successful writer. Yet, a walk in the park after a phone call from Pakistan, reminds him of the joy he felt as a child in Afghanistan kite fighting with Hassan.

Kite fighting, in which children attempt to cut down each other's kite strings, is a popular winter pastime among Afghan children. Kite strings are coated with glue and broken glass, allowing the strings to slice through another kite’s string. A kite runner is a child who runs after and retrieves the kites after they are cut. The greatest prize a kite runner can earn is retrieving the last kite cut during a tournament.

The last happy moment Amir and Hassan share occurs when Amir wins the winter kite tournament as his father watches. He sends Hassan, his kite runner, to fetch the last kite so that Amir can present it to his father. When Hassan goes kite running, he is attacked.

As an adult, Amir is presented with the opportunity to make things right. He receives a call from Rahim Khan, his father’s friend, who requests that Amir travel to Pakistan to see him. During this meeting he tells Amir that Hassan is his half brother. He also tells Amir that Hassan has been killed by the Taliban. Hassan’s son, Sohrab, is still in Afghanistan, and Rahim Khan asks Amir to return to Kabul to save Hassan’s son.

Amir decides to travel into Taliban ruled Afghanistan in order to exorcise the demons of his past. Eventually, Amir finds Sohrab and brings him back to America, finally putting to rest his feelings of guilt and inadequacy.

Following on the book's success, the film version is set to come out soon and I can only applaud the studio in their decision to protect the two boy actors. There is the fear the boys will be ridiculed at school when the movie comes out so they are planning on holding it off until the boys can be safely brought to America where they will wait until the movie's release blows over. It's about time the studios did the right thing and protected their employees because they could have easily have not cared about the boys thereby risking their lives, but saving millions of dollars from pushing back the release date.

If you haven't read the book, read it.

If you don't want to read the book, watch the movie.

I'm sure it'll be good.

THE KITE RUNNER TRAILER