The Kite Runner (12A)

10:01pm Monday 2nd June 2008

KITE flying, with all the freedom and joy that it signifies, is not something you would readily associate with the Kabul of 2008.

But thirty years ago, before the Russians, before the Taliban, before the Americans and the British, things were very different.

Starring Khalid Abdalla (Amir), Zekeria Ebrahimi (Young Amir) and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada (Young Hassan) Directed by Marc Forster

It is at this point where The Kite Runner, Marc Forster's adaptation of Khaled Hosseini's novel, optimistically begins.

Young Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi), the son of a wealthy aristocrat, is inseparable from his child servant Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada).

But things begin to turn sour when the boys' peers begin to bully them for their close association. The taunts centre upon the fact that Hassan is a member of Afghanistan's despised Hazara underclass.

Despite latent feelings for his servant, Amir struggles to come to terms with the bullying and, in a desperate attempt to ease the pressure, succeeds in persuading his father to dismiss Hassan from their home.

With the sudden Russian invasion in 1978 the young pair are refused a chance to make up and Amir (Khalid Abdalla) eventually ends up in the United States.

But his happy American life is turned on its head years later when he returns to Pakistan to call in on a sick family friend. It is only then that he is able to repair the guilt of his childhood.

The film is a gritty, contemporary and affecting story, which sees human spirit and empathy champion over the absurdity of repression and racism.

Like the kites at the centre of this movie, the story dips violently into the worst mankind has to offer but rallies to soar above everything.

Rating: 8/10

This movie is out on DVD and available at Blockbuster.

Have you seen the film? What do you think? Add your comments below

Editor's Choice