The Kite Runner | 
 enlarge | Director: Marc Forster
Actors: Khalid Abdalla, Atossa Leoni, Shaun Toub, Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada, Zekeria Ebrahimi
Studio: Dreamworks Video
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.99
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Rating:  100 reviews
Sales Rank: 686
Format: Ac-3, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, Dvd-video, Subtitled, Widescreen, Ntsc
Languages: English (Original Language), Russian (Original Language), Urdu (Original Language), English (Subtitled), Spanish (Subtitled), French (Subtitled), French (Dubbed), Spanish (Dubbed)
Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Number Of Items: 1
Running Time: 127
Aspect Ratio: 2.35:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: 117974
UPC: 097361179742
EAN: 0097361179742
ASIN: B0012OX7EO
Theatrical Release Date: 2007
Release Date: March 25, 2008
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Product Description
Amir is a young Afghani from a well-to-do Kabul family; his best friend Hassan is the son of a family servant. Together the two boys form a bond of friendship that breaks tragically on one fateful day when Amir fails to save his friend from brutal neighborhood bullies. Amir and Hassan become separated and as first the Soviets and then the Taliban seize control of Afghanistan Amir and his father escape to the United States to pursue a new life. Years later Amir now an accomplished author living in San Francisco is called back to Kabul to right the wrongs he and his father committed years ago.System Requirements:Running Time: 127 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA/INNOCENCE LOST Rating: PG-13 UPC: 097361179742 Manufacturer No: 117974
Amazon.com
Like the bestselling book upon which it's based, The Kite Runner will haunt the viewer long after the film is over. A tale of childhood betrayal, innocence and harsh reality, and dreamy memory, The Kite Runner faces good and evil--and the path between them, though often blurry and sorrowfully relative. Director Marc Forster (Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland) presents a painterly vision of Afghanistan before the Soviet tanks, before the Taliban--lush, verdant, fertile--in its landscape and in its people and their history and hopes. The story follows two young boys' friendship, tested beyond endurance, and the haunting of their adult selves by what happened in their youth--and what horrors befall their country in the meantime. The performances of the two boys--Zekeria Ebrahimi (Amir) and Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada (Hassan)--are the film's strongest, unforced and gently evocative. The penance paid by their adult selves is foreshadowed, but never predictable--and the metaphor of innocence lost, a common theme in Forster's work, keeps the film, like the title kites, truly aloft.--A.T. Hurley
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| Customer Reviews: Read 95 more reviews...
 worth considering August 27, 2008
Watching this film was a rather jarring experience. Having watched it several days ago I find that I am still affected by it, enough to google it, its author, enough to come here and read reviews of it - as if to gain some sort of comfort by gathering amongst other people who have shared in the same viewing experience.
I'm pretty disappointed in the bad reviews (here) of this movie. Yes, it is largely subtitled. I understand that some people don't like subtitles, okay. I honestly don't know if that's a fair summation of the movie as a whole, but everyone is entitled to their opinion & I'm sure there are plenty of people keen on passing up a movie they'd have to read.
There is also the matter of the child-rape scene which is mentioned on the dvd case as well as in the opening film rating. The scene itself is non-explicit, but the viewer is clearly aware of what is happening and it is genuinely disturbing. Whether or not such imagery belongs in popular cinema is not something I care to debate here, however in this case it is a pivotal point in the film. I suppose it could have been handled differently, but again I am not willing to debate an artist's vision and how he chose to portray these events. In short, like the subtitle issue, I would not dismiss this film based on this scene.
In fact, I would have to argue that the scene contributes more than it detracts, and not just for shock-value. After the attack the victim still has to deal with perpetrator; at one point he is required to serve him tea. It's heartbreaking, and reinforces the point that the victim is considered less than human based on his ethnicity alone.
As for the movie as a whole - this is not cinematography at its finest. It may not have been one of the best movies I've seen this year, but it certainly has been one of the most evocative and thought-provoking. I think this is an average movie that tells an extraordinary story, formulaic and melodramatic as it is at times. Much of this movie plays out like an afterschool special - except that it's interspersed with a few moments of absolute horror.
The Kite-Runner isn't a coming-of-age or buddy movie. It's a deeply sad story about a beautiful country that has been torn apart by forces inside and out, and what happens to people when they are either forced to leave or forced to stay behind. If you're curious enough about this movie to read my simplistic review, I can recommend it purely on the basis that it may put a human face yet another country that isn't given too much consideration by the western world.
 Beautiful... August 4, 2008
This is a must see movie. It was absolutely beautiful, as beautiful as the book. It touched my heart like no movie has in a very long time. I recommend it for everyone. You laugh, you cry and you feel for the characters. I also learned much about the Afghan culture, which I must admit really did not know very much about. It has changed my view of the Afghan people. It makes you value true love and friendship and how timeless the human connection is. Both the book and movie will stay in your memory and your heart for a very long time. Wonderful.
 A Disappointment July 15, 2008
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I absolutley loved the book, but the movie literally SUCKED. Totally did not do the book justice. Please read the book...screw the movie!
Just a moving as the book! July 15, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I have to admit that I am not usually a fan of movies that are based on books. Something about the adaptations usually doesn't fit. But-this movie was an exception. It was beautiful and powerful. Of course it is impossible to include every detail from a book when it is adapted to a screenplay, but the writers, producers, actors, etc where amazing!
I have read other reviews and some people where torn on whether the use o Afghan languages with subtitles in the film added to the "realness" of the story. My own opinion--the languages where beautiful to listen to, and the subtitles did not take away from the movie.
Everything about it was very well done. The boys that where chosen to potray Amir and Hassan are brillant young actors, as well as "grown up" Amir. Baba was amazing as well.
There is some violence and one scene in particular that was very hard to watch, but overall, very well done. An amazing adaptation.
Uplifting but formulaic July 14, 2008
3 out of 5 found this review helpful
"Kite Runner" has "First Novel" written all over it. Its depiction of 1970s Afghanistan is interesting, but its hackneyed and heavy-handed plot points of boyish antics, fathers, bullies, sexual assault, betrayal, ethnic prejudice and civil war seems too calculating by half, as if designed for the sole purpose of including all the requisite ingredients for one of the middlebrow choices of Oprah's Book of the Month Club. It's an uplifting story, and with fairly likeable characters, but there's just something about this story that was too predictable, amateurish and unsatisfying.
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