Starring: Khalid Abdalla, Homayoun Ershadi, Zekeria Ebrahimi, Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada
Director: Marc Forster

The Kite Runner is a stunning movie about friendship, loyalty and family set in the turmoil of Afghanistan.  It is powerful, gritty and extremely moving.  

The two main characters are boyhood friends – one wealthy and the other a servant’s son.  Told from the point of view of the wealthy boy, Amir, it starts in adulthood and flashes back to childhood.  It has some disturbingly violent scenes that unfortunately seem very real.  The film is based on the best-selling novel of the same name by Khaled Hosseini.

This is a dramatic film, with the music well chosen to add to the tension throughout.  It has some fantastic landscape scenes, with snow-capped mountains and colourful markets and kites, which contrast against the changes in the country, first with communist occupation then with the Taliban taking power.  The movie shows a more complex side to the politics and traditions of Afghanistan.

I recommend this movie but take your tissues and prepare to be confronted.  However, even with these words of warning, I would still describe this as a beautiful movie.  When the credits ran, the audience applauded in appreciation of this fantastic film.

4.5/5

www.kiterunnermovie.com