Movie Review: The Kite Runner

I have just watched The Kite Runner and I think it’s a very powerful movie. A beyond powerful movie! I have to read that book later!

Anyway, The Kite Runner tells the story of two young boys who are the best of friends. One boy is rich, Amir, and the other boy, Hassan, is Amir’s father’s servant’s son. But then, they set aside their differences and enjoyed hanging out with each other, like what friends normally do.

Hassan is the most loyal friend that you could ever find. He’d do absolutely anything for Amir but Amir is too selfish and thinks only for himself. The truth is, Amir is a downright lousy friend and poor Hassan can’t do anything about it.

When Hassan was being bullied by some older boys, Amir only hid and watched poor Hassan suffer. And all the time, Hassan had been defending Amir. The older boys told Hassan that Amir only played with him when there’s nobody else around to play with but Hassan was too loyal.

My heart went out to Hassan during that scene. If I could, I wanted to punch Amir in the face for not helping his best friend. This movie can really bring out the emotional side of you but that’s the right to do, isn’t it? Amir should have helped his friend. One of the older boys even raped Hassan. Now, that’s just terrible. The older boys looked down on Hassan because he’s only a servant’s son.

After that, Hassan and Amir never played with each other again. Amir even had the audacity to accuse Hassan of being a coward! Now that’s too much. Why did Hassan ever bother to stick with this selfish fella?

Well, soon the Russians invaded Afghanistan. Amir and his father escaped to the United States and they stayed there for many years. Amir graduated from college and wanted to become a writer. Yeah, he was always writing stories too when he was young and he would read to Hassan, who probably didn’t know how to read then.

Amir fell in love with a general’s daughter and got married. They’ve tried to have kids but they weren’t successful. One day, Amir got a call from Afghanistan. It’s his father’s friend whose health was deteriorating and he asked Amir to return. When Amir got back to Afghanistan, he received shocking new information from his father’s old friend. News regarding Hassan that would change his life forever, I presume.

Friendship, betrayal, loyalty, cowardice, war, cruelty, kindness, compassion, regret….that’s what The Kite Runner is all about. It’s a wonderful, incredible movie and I strongly recommend you to watch it.