The Kite Runner (2007)

Director:

Marc Forster

Writers (WGA):

David Benioff (screenplay)
Khaled Hosseini (novel)

Release Date:

26 December 2007 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Tagline:

There is a way to be good again.

Plot:

After spending years in California, Amir returns to his homeland in Afghanistan to help his old friend Hassan, whose son is in trouble.

Plot Keywords:

Afghanistan | Friend | California | Pakistan | Kite

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 3 wins & 13 nominations

Cast

  (Cast overview, first billed only)

Khalid Abdalla	...	Amir
Atossa Leoni	...	Soraya
Shaun Toub	...	Rahim Khan
Sayed Jafar Masihullah Gharibzada	...	Omar
Zekeria Ebrahimi	...	Young Amir
Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada	...	Young Hassan
Mir Mahmood Shah Hashimi	...	Business Man in Baba's Study
Homayoun Ershadi	...	Baba
Nabi Tanha	...	Ali
Elham Ehsas	...	Young Assef
Bahram Ehsas	...	Wali
Tamim Nawabi	...	Kamal
Mohamad Nabi Attai	...	Uncle Saifo the Kite Seller
Mohamad Nadir Sarwari	...	Spice Merchant
Mustafa Haidari	...	Party Worker

Also Known As:

Cometas en el cielo (Argentina) (Mexico) (Spain) (Venezuela) [es]
Les cerfs-volants de Kaboul (Belgium: French title) (Canada: French title) (France) [fr]
Drachenläufer (Germany) [de]
Drage løberen (Denmark) [da]
Drageløberen (Denmark) [da]
Drageløperen (Norway) [no]
Flyga drake (Sweden) [sv]
Hartaetoi pano ap' tin poli (Greece) [el]
Il cacciatore di aquiloni (Italy) [it]
Kimi no tame nara sen kai demo (Japan) [ja]
Leijapoika (Finland) [fi]
Lohelennutaja (Estonia) [et]
O Caçador de Pipas (Brazil) [pt]
Uçurtma avcisi (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for strong thematic material including the rape of a child, violence and brief strong language.

Runtime:

128 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Dari | Pashtu | Urdu | Russian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 | Canada:18A (British Columbia) | UK:12A | Australia:M | Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14A | Netherlands:12 | Ireland:15A | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Hong Kong:IIA | Brazil:12 | South Korea:12 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:PG-13 (MTRCB) | Sweden:11 | Taiwan:PG-12 | Germany:12 | Finland:K-13 | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:M | Iceland:12 | France:U (with warning)

Filming Locations:

Beijing, China

Company:

DreamWorks SKG

Trivia:

Director Mark Forster mentions at 11:10 in the DVD commentary that his passion to make the film as authentic as possible was responsible for his insistence on filming Afghanistani characters speaking in Dari (with English subtitles). At 91:37 author Khaled Hosseini says "Iran and Afghanistan share a language - they call it Farsi in Iran and we call it Dari in Afghanistan - it's essentially the same language, but the accent is very different." He mentions at 97:38 that the speaker at the soccer game is speaking in Pashdu, the other main language of Afghanistan.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Hassan first points the slingshot at the three big guys to save Amir it is crossed but in the next shot it appears to be normal again.

Quotes:

Amir: [explaining Sohrab's presence] You see, General Sahib, my father slept with his servant's wife, and she bore him a son named Hassan. Hassan is dead now. That boy sleeping in the other room is Hassan's son. He's my nephew. That's what you tell people when they ask. And one more thing, General Sahib: you will never again refer to him as "a Hazara boy" in my presence. He has a name, and it's Sohrab.

Movie Connections:

Features The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Soundtrack:

Beds are Burning

Excellent film, music & cinematography

The Kite Runner was beautiful, poignant and very moving. I particularly loved the two child actors in the film as well as the actor portraying the father. It really made me want to go back and read the book again.

The music was a wonderful part of the fabric of the movie. If there is a soundtrack coming out for the film, I will buy it to accompany my second reading of the book. It is also a visually stunning film. The cinematography was gorgeous and really added to experience.

The Brazilian word 'saudades' is very descriptive of how I felt at the end of the film..."it is a deep feeling of longing for someone or someplace, which is very sweet but also tinged with an inescapable sadness" (definition provided years ago by Antonio Carlos Jobim).

Saw it at a small cinema here for an advance screening. I would love to see it again on a really large screen with a tricked out sound system.

Can't wait for the formal release. I will definitely recommend the film to friends.