The Movie The Kite Runner, based on Khaled Hosseini’s 2003 novel is both horrific and haunting. With the book, you want to stop reading, but you can’t put it down. The movie is just as powerful. It is about betrayal and hopes for redemption. It is about cultures in collision. It is about the terrible Taliban, and their cruelty. It is about war, occupation, and the devastation it brought on Afghanistan in the 1970’s. It is also about fighter kite flying.

This is not a movie for children! Nor is it a movie for the faint of heart.  I wish that I could forget many of the scenes, but learned much about a culture I did not understand. There are scenes of child rape, and child slavery.  I would not recommend this movie to anyone under the age of 15, [even though it is rated PG-13] depending upon their maturity. If all you want to see is some fighter kite flying, go to the web for some streaming video.  Or wait till the movie comes out in DVD and skip to the kite scenes. It is a shame that forgiveness eludes the main character of the story, Amir. Born a well-to-do Pashtun boy, he is haunted by the guilt of betraying his childhood friend, Hassan, the son of his father’s Hazara servant. Amir will spend the rest of his life atoning for this betrayal while you are wrenched inside with each seemingly failed attempt.  

This is not a fairy tale that ends with, “and they all lived happily ever after.” The story spans the events of the fall of the monarchy in Afghanistan through the Soviet Invasion, showing the rise of the Taliban, and the mass exodus of refugees to Pakistan and the United States. There are no simple answers to the problems facing these people. The landscape is bleak, as are their options.  

The fighter kite flying is superb.  Perhaps the best ever filmed.  Khalid Abdalla plays the role very well. Mark Forster, the director, has taken an acclaimed novel and made an even better picture. We predict The Kite Runner will do for fighter kite flying what A River Runs Through It did for fly-fishing. Fighter kites have been slighted at many kite events in the United States. This is bound to change for the better.  

After seeing some great kiting scenes, check out our Fusion Fighter Kites at Elmers Flag & Banner, Kites Too!
 
Keep Flying,
 
Kite Guy