THE KITE RUNNER the movie :A review

The kite runner.

I would never have watched the movie had it not been for a dear friend who told me how wonderful the story is. The kite runner, as much as I could perceive, was centered on a boy called Aamir, but it is all but his story. He is but one of the many brilliant characters that light up the story.

The background of Afghanistan is breath taking. The rugged mountains laced by the snow capped peaks only add to the mystique of a city called Kabul. The city is portrayed in the eyes of two kids, Aamir and his best friend, Hasan. They are the best kite runners in the city; some would say Habib could fly kites without even looking up, as if he could follow the shadow of his kite.

A marvelous kite fighting scene follows. Aamir’s kite ruled the skies and won the kite flying competition. This was followed by the assault of Hasan on the hands of their rivals. This incident sparked up a feud in their friendship for Aamir thought his friend was too much of a coward to stand up for himself. He would speak no more of him and eventually found a way to get rid of him. Hasan always stood by his friend and never uttered a word to anyone in protest.

The Russian invasion of Afghanistan made Aamir and his father escape. His father is portrayed as a martyr, with a natural hatred bored in his heart against the communists who invaded his soil, his country. He made way to America along with his son and settled there permanently. But not even for a second did he let go of the vial which contained a pinch soil from his country. In the meantime Aamir has grown to be a graduate and is aspiring to become a writer despite his father wanting him to be a doctor. His sole creation is entitled THE SULTANS OF KABUL, which was appreciated by everyone.

After his father left him, Aamir got a letter from his uncle in Pakistan, who wanted to meet him urgently. It turned out in an unexpected turn of events that Hasan was Aamir’s own brother. He perished in the hands of the intruders, but was survived by a son. Hasan’s last letter to Aamir was a pledge to take care of his son, Sohrab.

In search of his nephew, Aamir travels back to Kabul, only to find the city in ruins. Nothing of what he remembers survived, except the old house and the tree with the names of Hasan and he carved on its feeble trunk. He searches for the kid in an orphanage, only to find out that the kid was abducted by a local Taliban leader.

In a brave attempt which endangered both their lives, he rescued the child took and off with him to the States. But barriers were still to be crossed. The kid was terrified. He dreaded the return of the tormentors. He was a loner, and in the brief period of time among the Taliban he even forgot how his parents looked like. Aamir tried to befriend him but failed.

One fine day Aamir and his wife took Sohrab to a field where the kids were flying kites. Aamir tried to lure him to join, but he stayed put and just watched him. Soon the breeze sweeping through the kite touched the boy’s heart, and he took over from Aamir, who taught the child a trick or two. Queer enough, it was the kite that again re united Aamir to his soul and family. As Aamir proudly would tell his nephew, Hasan was the best kite runner in the city, and contradictory to the popular notion, he never followed the shadow of the kite. He just knew where it was, for then his soul would merge with the kite. So he never had to look up to the skies.

The kite runner follows the journey of a storyteller in search of true identity. Aamir was the one who set up his best friend for accusation of theft, yet he always missed him after Hasan was gone. His redemption took place through his nephew, whom he gave a new life, and within whom he found his old friend and the shadow of his lost brother.