A film made in Afghanistan during the Soviet war, that’s the Kite Runner’s description in a sentence. The film, however, fails to live up to expectations. There’s nothing like it/been done like it for quite some time, but that seems like an excuse not to make the best possible film, rather a half-hearted attempt at a best-selling novel.

Afghanistan must be one of the most difficult places to film in the world. Near to none attempt on location scenes. The Kite Runner certainly doesn’t, but manages to capture the vibe of Afghan streets. The film takes place in 1978, then 1980, around 1988 and finally 2000. In the most former, the set  gives off a relaxed, friendly atmosphere, but still manages to increase the tension (helped out by the extra’s actions/reactions towards events) in the recent past (2000).

Authentic Afghan songs are included, sung in Arabic, but most of the time, poor editing leads to the wrong music being played over the wrong scene. And I can’t help thinking that certain scenes void to any music would be better off with music, even if it was just a faint, slow song in the background. For example, the scene in which a young Amir Jan (played by Zekeria Ebrahimi reluctantly reads a poeem to his best friend’s (Hassan, played by Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada) birthday.

As for the script, the film is based on a book of the same name. I haven’t read the book, so I can’t comment on the faithfulness of the film’s script (although I do know that the book’s writer, Khaled Hosseini, wasn’t involved in producing the screenplay). However, the standard is usually of high quality, only let down by the odd scene which struggles to make as much an impact as other part and falls short.

For inexperienced actors, they do a good job (Young Amir, Young Hassan, Young Asef, and their older counterparts), however, that is all that they are; inexperienced actors. There are some great performances in the film such as the prejudice, old and dying Baba (played by Homayoun Ershadi) as well as the respected until the end General Taheri (Abdul Qadir Farookh). Unfortunately, most performances are drained out by the films urge to be unique by including scenes which make you gape in sorrow/despair etc (which is arguably a good thing).

Finally, the direction of the film. Marc Forster (Quantum of Solace) overall does a good job at pulling the audiences attention to one are of the screen. You could argue that doing this does sink in the message and engrosses the audience, but I feel that sometimes it would’ve better for him to not use the steadicam or still shots all the time. I can’t help thinking that a film like this deserves to be shot as if it were a documentary (except with high-end cameras) so keeping the camera still or moving steadily doesn’t help the key scenes in the film or the actors’ performances. Also, the scene in which they are ‘running the kites’ is way too long and makes you wonder whether he’ll be able to keep up with the action in Quantum of Solace.

In all my complaining, I have to say that The Kite Runner still makes a large impact on the audience, and there are lots of key issues addressed in the film, some urgent, others to mixed opinions and some that the film could’ve done without. Overall though, I have to say that I do think that the Kite Runner is a more than average film (if only because of it’s daring individuality from the movie industry) even though I may have been nitpicking throughout the entire film.

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