Everyone I know but me has read The Kite Runner. I had heard that there were difficult scenes, some painful content. I took those comments to mean I wasn’t going to be crazy about this movie – violence and cruelty, at least.
But I love picturing that part of the world – the mountains, villages, deserts, ancient ruins and old ways – and was willing to see it just to get those pictures. The visuals were terrific. And the scenes of Kabul, especially flying kites from the rooftops, were fabulous, though I assumed much of it was shot in Pakistan. The Afghan wedding celebration was great fun.
The rest of it – the young boy not communicating with his father, not defending his friend, and even managing to eliminate that friend from his life – was miserable. An ugly story. The sort-of reconciliation with his father, the trip back to Kabul to rescue the son of his friend, the perils Amir, the protagonist, faces in that exploded part of the planet. All those more or less resolved the issues. But they really didn’t make it better for me.
A good and gritty film, wonderful performances. But it could have been named Atonement. Except there’s another difficult film out with that same name. Which I’m seeing soon. Ugh.