By Captain Cumquat

A gripping story about two young boys growing up together in Afghanistan, and how their experiences from different social vantage points shaped their choices and who they became. Young Amir is born into a life of privilege and luxury. His successful yet principled father takes care of his son and his servant staff with dignity and patriarchal grace. Young Hassan is the son of Amir’s father’s servant. He grows up with Amir and loves him deeply like a brother. He supports Amir in all his endeavors, not the least of which is a Kite dogfight competition. Amir, carrying on his father’s legacy, is the kite pilot in a game where the various competing kites attempt to cut the opponent’s string, sending the victim kite flying off untethered in the wind. Hassan is the kite runner- which is the less glamorous job of chasing the fallen victims of Amir’s Top Gun Kite. But when Amir witnesses an ugly brutality upon his friend Hassan, he experiences a complicated and ongoing reaction colored by guilt, entitlement, and confusion that haunts him into adulthood.

Among the uniformly stellar performances, special kudos to the debut movie performances of the young actors Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada (Young Hassan) and Zekeria Ebrahimi (Young Amir) who portrayed these complex issues with heartbreaking honesty.

Brilliantly and delicately directed by Marc Forster, ”The Kite Runner” emerges as a morality parable tailored to our more complex social and political generation.

DVD EXTRAS
The DVD bonus features include a PSA from the Afghani writer of the book, Khaled Hosseini, as well as an amazingly insightful commentary from the director and writer about the parallels between the personal journey of Amir & Hassan and the political tribulations of the Afghani nation.