Kite runner movie movie#
Kite runner movie plus#

Eyes rolled, James Baldwin cringed in his grave, and an Oscar was won. In the vile Monster’s Ball, the German-born director used a sex scene between Billy Bob Thornton and Halle Berry as an occasion to absurdly reference I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, revealing the extent of his racial consideration by having Thornton dip a white plastic spoon into a bowl filled with chocolate ice cream. Like Brett Ratner and Michael Bay, he makes consistently bad movies, all instantly recognizable as his own, but his at once trite and lofty award-stage aspirations mean that comparisons to the equally offensive Ron Howard are more apt.

Kite runner movie movie#

This doesn’t blow your socks off, but it is adequate and will be enough for the fans of the movie or those who loved the book and will take a chance on the DVD.By this point, it is reasonable to discuss Marc Forster the auteur.

The only other items provided are a trailer and a PSA from Hosseini that encourages you to contribute to charities helping Afghanistan. It’s discussed in a very general way by both Hosseini and Benioff, but nothing concrete is mentioned. Not as well discussed is the specific changes between the book and the movie and why things were dropped or changed. Hosseini talks about how he decided to write the book and also provides some insight into the metaphors in such scenes as Hassan being brutalized. Called “Words from The Kite Runner, it focuses mostly on Hosseini, the book, and the adaptation of the book to a screenplay. The other featurette is shorter, about 15 minutes, but slightly more interesting.

This is the type of behind-the-scenes stuff that is too often missing from these puff pieces. Director Forster was adamant about having it shot in the native language. Although it seems pretty natural after seeing the movie, according to the producers, it was a very close call. There is also a lot of discussion about shooting most of the film with the actors speaking Dari with subtitles and not English. Most interesting is how the two young boys were cast to play Amir and Hassan. It’s really the standard making-of featurette you typically see. The longer one is called “Images from The Kite Runner, although that’s a bit of misnomer. The remaining extras amount to two featurettes. It’s nice for those who are very into either Afghan culture or the book. Since the commentary is not limited to the filmmaker, there is more information about the book, the culture, the differences in adaptation then you might otherwise get. It does present a beautiful enhanced picture that shows off the scenery, excellent when the action is in what is supposed to be Afghanistan (actually China.) It also provides subtitles, although a good portion of the movie takes place in Dari with English subtitles anyway.ĭirector Marc Forster, writer David Benioff, and author Khaled Hosseini provide a commentary. The Kite Runner disc doesn’t try to do too much in some ways acknowledging that, despite it’s strong literary forbearer, it has somewhat limited appeal as a DVD.

Instead, it gets mired in the details and loses the audience along the way. There is a lot of joy and beauty at work in the beginning, along with realistic looking streets in the Chinese stand-in for Kabul. Forster and screenwriter David Benioff ( Troy) present Kabul as a thriving cosmopolitan community and give Western audiences a look at a location they recently only see as a place of war and extremism.Ĭutting out the whole middle section would have gone a long way to making The Kite Runner a touching and ultimately uplifting film. Amir’s father, Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), who has disdain for both the communists and the religious extremists is disappointed in his son’s ability to stand up for himself, but still show’s unconditional love and pride. The two young actors, found in a school in Kabul and working on their first film, are outstanding at projecting first friendship and then division following Amir’s cowardice.

Kite runner movie plus#

These early scenes, which cover about the first 40-50 minutes of the two hour plus film, are the beginnings of what could have been an amazing movie. Amir is unable to deal with his shame and ends up driving Hassan and his father away so he will not see the visible presence of his failure. Following a battle involving kites, Hassan is bullied and violated by Assef and his cronies while Amir hides and watches, too scared to help his friend.