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Capone's Review Of THE KITE RUNNER!
Hey, everybody. "Moriarty" here.
I just saw this film this afternoon at the Arclight, and I'll have my own review of it up later in the weekend. I'm not even going to read Capone's review until after I've had a chance to write about it, but I'm sure it's as good a read as normal, and I look forward to reading it as soon as I publish my own.
Check it out...
Hey folks. Capone in Chicago here.
As much as we'd like all films about childhood friends to be heartwarming, sweet and innocent, in real life such stories aren't always possible. Based on the acclaimed novel by Khaled Hosseini (and adapted beautifully by David Benioff), THE KITE RUNNER concerns two Afghan friends, Amir and Hassan. Amir is the son of a rich man, and Hassan is the family's servant's son, but the two are constant companions. They compete in the cutthroat sport of kite running, in which a two-person team sets out to knock down other kites from the sky. It's actually exciting to watch. Obviously the film is set in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, since the Taliban outlawed kite flying, among other things.
While other stories about children would focus on what bonds these two boys together (and that's here to a degree), THE KITE RUNNER concentrates on what tears these good friends apart. The smaller but more ferocious Hassan gets into a fight with older boys, one of whom rapes him while Amir watches and does nothing. Hassan is not aware that Amir witnessed this awful attack, but Amir's unspoken guilt essentially tears apart their friendship shortly before Amir's family decides to move to America as the Russians move in.
Amir (played by Khalid Abdalla, who I believe played one of the terrorists in UNITED 93) grows up to become a successful writer, but he is plagued by the remembrance and an overwhelming sense of concern for Hassan's whereabouts in the aftermath of both the Russian invasion and the installation of the Taliban as the ruling power in their country. He receives a letter from someone in Afghanistan regarding Hassan and immediately makes the journey back home. He discovers that Hassan has a son who has been kidnapped by the Taliban, and Amir makes it his mission to go undercover and rescue the boy.
THE KITE RUNNER is just one harrowing story after another through Amir's life as both a coward and a hero for his friend. There are several moments in this film that are almost too emotionally painful to watch. Director Marc Forster (MONSTER’S BALL; STRANGER THAN FICTION; FINDING NEVERLAND; and the next Bond flick) pulls no punches in telling this magnificent story that is as much tale of redemption as it is celebration of youthful bonds. The two child actors playing Amir and Hassan are tremendous, and Abdalla's work is award-worthy, to be sure. Although far from your conventional feel-good film, THE KITE RUNNER provides an honest and devastating look at the realities of its characters' lives and makes us care about them more than I could ever imagine. Only those with coal-encrusted hearts can resist the impact this film delivers.
Capone
As much as we'd like all films about childhood friends to be heartwarming, sweet and innocent, in real life such stories aren't always possible. Based on the acclaimed novel by Khaled Hosseini (and adapted beautifully by David Benioff), THE KITE RUNNER concerns two Afghan friends, Amir and Hassan. Amir is the son of a rich man, and Hassan is the family's servant's son, but the two are constant companions. They compete in the cutthroat sport of kite running, in which a two-person team sets out to knock down other kites from the sky. It's actually exciting to watch. Obviously the film is set in pre-Taliban Afghanistan, since the Taliban outlawed kite flying, among other things.
While other stories about children would focus on what bonds these two boys together (and that's here to a degree), THE KITE RUNNER concentrates on what tears these good friends apart. The smaller but more ferocious Hassan gets into a fight with older boys, one of whom rapes him while Amir watches and does nothing. Hassan is not aware that Amir witnessed this awful attack, but Amir's unspoken guilt essentially tears apart their friendship shortly before Amir's family decides to move to America as the Russians move in.
Amir (played by Khalid Abdalla, who I believe played one of the terrorists in UNITED 93) grows up to become a successful writer, but he is plagued by the remembrance and an overwhelming sense of concern for Hassan's whereabouts in the aftermath of both the Russian invasion and the installation of the Taliban as the ruling power in their country. He receives a letter from someone in Afghanistan regarding Hassan and immediately makes the journey back home. He discovers that Hassan has a son who has been kidnapped by the Taliban, and Amir makes it his mission to go undercover and rescue the boy.
THE KITE RUNNER is just one harrowing story after another through Amir's life as both a coward and a hero for his friend. There are several moments in this film that are almost too emotionally painful to watch. Director Marc Forster (MONSTER’S BALL; STRANGER THAN FICTION; FINDING NEVERLAND; and the next Bond flick) pulls no punches in telling this magnificent story that is as much tale of redemption as it is celebration of youthful bonds. The two child actors playing Amir and Hassan are tremendous, and Abdalla's work is award-worthy, to be sure. Although far from your conventional feel-good film, THE KITE RUNNER provides an honest and devastating look at the realities of its characters' lives and makes us care about them more than I could ever imagine. Only those with coal-encrusted hearts can resist the impact this film delivers.
Capone
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...the kid got raped while trying to retrieve the other kid's kite. And after he got raped, not only did he not rescue him, but he refused to talk to him after that. And to top it off, he then framed him for stealing to get him kicked out of his father's house because he couldn't stand to be around him after he watched him get raped.
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You should have read it first, Moriarty ;)
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That'll teach me for using big words.
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I'm not even going to read the other talkbacks until after I've had a chance to write about them, but I'm sure they're as good a read as normal, and I look forward to reading them as soon as I publish my own.
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I'm not even going to read the other talkbacks until after I've had a chance to write about them, but I'm sure they're as good a read as normal, and I look forward to reading them as soon as I publish my own.
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Great book and from what I've seen it looks like they pulled it off. Can't wait to see it, but mostly for Forster's work since he's the next Bond director.
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It could happen.
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You do.
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You knew it was coming.
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People bother spending their valuable time writing such uninteresting, opposite-of-funny things on the internet, such as is shown in this Talkback? Do they really think comments about giant robots are going to make *anyone* laugh?
Book was overrated. It's a tough read, but mostly just due to how much the narrator whines. Hopefully the movie will do Hassan a little more justice and shut Amir the hell up. -
Best line in the book
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kite run/gang rape YOU!
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Saw this a couple of weeks ago. LOVED it. Kite Runner really is very much in the tradition of classic Hollywood storytelling. And any film that puts a human face on that tragically misunderstood part of the world is cool by me.
Oh and before the haters descend upon me, one lesson reasonable people may draw from the film is that there really is a wide diversity of opinion within Islam and within countries with majority Muslim populations. -
"he say you a kite runner"
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Why is there no street named after him? What does a man have to do to get a street?
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I've been waiting months to see this after first watching the trailer and being blown away by it. I never read the book and had no idea what the story was about, and that trailer haunted me for days. It's a shame that you and Capone had to launch a preemptive defense of this movie just because it puts a human face on Muslims, but unfortunately that's the kind of world we live in.
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let the real vs. CGI debate begin.
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this last night. It looks real good. I'll still have to wait for the DVD though just because I be broke.
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