Home > Chicago Movies > Movie Review > The Kite Runner

Amir (Khalid Abdalla), an Afghan man living in America, returns to his homeland when the son of his former best friend Hassan is in danger. This comes more than two decades after Hassan was sexually abused while standing up for Amir—an act into which Amir failed to intervene—which contributed to the severing of their friendship.

Big question: Can director Marc Forster ("Finding Neverland") generate the widespread acclaim that fell upon Khaled Hosseini's book?

Skip it: The fable-like beginning captures friendship at its most devoted and betrayal at its most cowardly, but the time-killing mid-section drags like a 14-hour flight. "The Kite Runner" captures little of Afghan culture and less of post-Taliban atrocities as Forster turns a story of class, shame and redemption into a movie that's no more satisfying than watching two kites sparring in the sky.

Catch it: To learn that a friend is truly loyal if they tell you, as Hassan says to Amir, that he'd rather eat dirt than lie to you. The rule is void if your best friend is a worm.

Bottom line: The silly recurrence of an early-movie villain at the end may make you say, "Hell to the no!" for the first time, and the same goes for the awkward emotional coda. You wouldn't think a man could smile when repeating the last words his friend said to him before he was raped, but, well, there you have it.

Bonus: It's worth noting Amir's father's friend Rahim Kahn (Shaun Toub) points out that children are not coloring books for adults to fill in as they please. So get away from that kid with those crayons!

mpais@tribune.com

Add a comment