Below, read more about the novel, and how it became an Oscar-nominated film and a play that’s been produced worldwide. The Kite Runner is currently running at the Hayes Theater. As the story got adapted from a novel into a book and play, some storytelling elements changed, but this context still informs the compelling journey of Amir, who takes a dangerous trip back to his home country long after becoming a refugee. He sets his story against the backdrop of 20th-century Afghan history, when the country was on the brink of war. Hosseini, himself an Afghan American writer, pulls from his own experiences moving from country to country. The story, though fully original, pulls from many sources of inspiration. It is about the deep friendship between two friends, Amir and Hassan, which is torn apart and then put back together after many years. It spans two countries, Afghanistan and the United States, and two decades. She loves to chill with her amazing girlfriend and debate over dumb romantic movies with her and she also likes music, pretty much all music types from cheesy adolescent pop to indie feminist rockers. Taylor Swift and Clarke Griffin are the only other things that matter to her.Khaled Hosseini’s moving, expansive novel The Kite Runner has been adapted into a play and is currently running on Broadway. Hannah, is 18 and from England. She likes little indie movies, Christoph Waltz, David Fincher, Spike Jonze and cool female actresses. It is, to me, one of the finest examples of cinema’s ability to educate and affect us. Ultimately, it is an underrated, almost hidden, piece of delicate storytelling that one would struggle to forget. It is not without emotional turmoil yet nor is it sans hope. Above all, this film is a haunting depiction of friendship. Moreover, the use of a setting that differs to those of Hollywood’s usual choices allow us to further understand that the themes of anger and desperation that run through ‘The Kite Runner’ serve as a reminder that grief is universal that, regardless of our cultural differences, humanity will always find common ground in devastation. Sadly, it is rare that mainstream media shows us anything of the intricacies and beauties of Middle Eastern life, so, to find this scattered throughout the film was a wonderful experience. One of the most fascinating things about this movie, for me, was the portrayal of a non-Western culture. Regret and guilt are, by far, two of the most important themes within ‘The Kite Runner’, as we watch Amir battle with the consequences of his childhood ‘crime’ and also as his opportunity to achieve redemption unfolds leading him to return to his homeland, where we are greeted with both stunning views of Afghanistan’s landscape and the unescapable horrors of Taliban rule. Arguably, it is the actions carried out by Amir as a child that serve as the centre of the movie, as his decisions eventually impact the rest of his adult life, even after he moves to America following the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. As a result, he is the boy-master of Hassan a fact that a young, conflicted Amir uses to his advantage in an unsettling scene by questioning Hassan as to whether he would eat dirt for him if he asked. Hassan is a ‘Hazara’, meaning that he is often subject to cruel taunts and is expected to obey the requests of the ‘Pashtun’, of which Amir is one. However, there is something that makes their friendship different to those of other children. Almost from birth, the two grow side by side as close as brothers. In the early Seventies, in the days before the devastating rise of the Taliban, our protagonist Amir spends his time indulging in common Afghan past times, including kite flying, with his friend, and servant, Hassan. ‘For you, a thousand times over.’ These are the words that echo throughout ‘The Kite Runner’ a film that beautifully encompasses guilt, love, sin and redemption against the backdrop of a child’s Afghanistan and an adult’s America. 0 THROWBACK REVIEW- The Kite Runner: On Afghanistan, Taliban rule and friendship.
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