The Kite Runner

"The Kite Runner" tells of a story between 2 boys, Amir and Hassan, who grow up in the same Afghanistan household since Amir's father appears to be middle-class and can afford to take on Ali (Hassan's father) as a servant for their house and property, and Ali and Hassan are considered Hazara, a lower class of people in their land. The friendship between Amir and Hassan is wonderful to see unfold as they watch movies together at theaters, Amir reading stories to Hassan, and do well in kite-fighting competitively, although things happen that change them forever, the story told stirred many emotions within me, mining the inner turmoil and guilt that Amir felt both as a small boy and a young man in newfound circumstances.

Director Marc Forster and screenwriter David Benioff pull off a wonderful cinematic treatment of the story at hand, poignantly simple, but requires such a deft touch to retain the themes and subtext of one's place in this world (given one's heritage and station in life), and the value of family, and drawing the line in the sand when the situation arises and courage is called upon to do right in the face of malevolence.

The final act gets a little hairy in terms of plausibility of the plot progression, but the overall thematic character development is enough to justify it.

It's worth seeing in the theaters.

I give it 3.75 stars or a grade of A-.