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| Picture is taken from: Entertainmentwallpaper.com |
The center for this movie is friendship. It’s how it is portrayed that makes it a great movie. The story is set in Afghanistan. A Pashtun boy named Amir befriends his servant, Hassan who happens to be a Hazara, the lowest caste (if I’m not mistaken) because the Hazaras are believed to be the Mongols. (spoilers, beware!)
Afghanistan has a long bumpy road of histories when the Greeks came and conquered it, the Persians, the Russians and now the Talibans. The incessant enslavement and battles leave Afghanistan marred and crying blood. It’s ‘chaotic’. The chain never stops and the place is restless until now. The magic of this movie is the main character, Amir. He’s just a small boy. I think he’s just 10 years old. He always plays with Hassan especially in kite flying. Their friendship is commendable. Tough like steel. Hassan admired his master cum friend. He will do anything for Amir, including his life. That’s how my post’s title comes from.
So, Amir believes that his dad despises him because he was the reason for his mother’s death. But what I am sure of is that his father only dislikes him because he’s such a coward. He can’t even stand on his two feets. He always runs away from fights and Hassan will be the one who’ll receive the beatings.
Hassan who’s illiterate loves to hear his master reading for him stories and his favourite is owh my…I can’t remember the title. Amir on the other hand is keen in writing fictional stories but his father always disapproves his interest. Although Hassan doesn’t receive adequate education like Amir does, he appears bright. For example, when uncle Rahim (the only person who appreciates and takes notice of his works) praises Amir’s first story about a man who can cry pearls, Hassan says something that outwits Hassan’s judgment. Amir ends his story with a tragic ending that the man will kill his wife so he can cry incessantly but Amir when asks, suggests that the man should smell the onions instead.
To prove to his father that he’s a worthy son of his, he wants to win the kite flying competition. At the beginning of the movie, it is shown that Amir loses his kite when someone else’s kite cuts away his kite. Hassan will be the one who’ll chase his flying kite (that’s how the movie gets its title). The big day comes and it is proven that Amir is a good kite flyer. Hence, Hassan runs to get the falling kite of Amir’s final contender but he never shows up. Amir knows something must have gone wrong because Hassan will never fails him. People always say that Hassan only chases the kite’s shadow but Hassan is gifted with the skill that he’ll know where and when the kite will fall.
Amir searches for him and find his lost friend being cornered by a group of hooligans that they encountered before. They want to teach the Hazara boy a lesson. Previously, Hassan had stood up and threatened them with a slingshot because the hooligans tried to cause harm to Amir. When Amir noticed his friend is in great danger, he is overcome by his cowardice and he hides behind the wall only to hear his friend screams in pain when the hooligans beats him and one of them even sodomizes (Aseef) the poor little boy. The harelips Hassan goes back with the kite and he is bleeding internally. Soon, he seldom shows up and Amir believes that his friend is sick.
Due to his guilt, he wants to vanish Hassan and his father, Ali. He tries to talk to his father but his father reckons that he’s being ridiculous. His father wants them to stay with their family because Hassan’s family has been serving their family for ages. He wants to keep them because they’re so loyal to them and never cause any nuisance. Defeated, Amir decides to hide his new watch in Hassan’s place and frame him for theft. Hassan when he is called forward lies and accepts the blame for stealing but Amir’s father forgives him. Hassan’s father who obviously seems troubled admits that even though Amir’s father pardons his son, they still want to leave.
Two years after that, the Russians come and invade Afghanistan for good. Amir and his father escape and seek refuge in Pakistan and then to America. Amir grows up to be a fine lad. He graduates from a community college and decides to pursue his dream as a fictional writer. His father this time approves his passion in writing. He writes using a typewriter. He then meets the love of his life, Soraya. She’s the daughter of an Afghanistan General and also a refugee like him. He gets married and finally manages to publish a book. When he is about to have a celebration for his first breakthrough, he get a call from his uncle Rahim saying that he needs to meet him. Initially, Amir is reluctant but when his uncle stresses that this is his only chance to redeem his sins, he gives up and travels to Pakistan to meet his uncle.
His uncle Rahim who now appears old and devastated tells him about Hassan who’s now dead. He tells him that he has a son, named after the story that Amir used to read to Hassan daily. His son is still in Kabul. Uncle Rahim insists that Amir should rescue the child. Amir is pretty much determined and says that he will get a man to bring the child to him but uncle Rahim says he wants Amir himself to rescue the child for he’s actually Amir’s nephew. Amir apparently confused and shocked to know that his father used to bed Hassan’s mother and there’s no way that Hassan’s father could bear a child for he’s proven sterile. Thus, it is a strong reason why Amir should himself rescue the child.
Afghanistan is no longer the same peaceful place that Amir longs for. It is utterly the sad face of the other side of the road that he doesn’t bother to go. The trees were chopped down by the unlawful Russians. When the Russians left, the Talibans take over the country with guns and grenades. The land is barren and the Talibans fill the place with fear. There’re curfews. No man should walk with no beard. The laws are fixed but they only cause terror to the place. The government is corrupted and people are punished according to the Sharia’ law (when women and men are stoned for adultery). The place is a prove of disorder when Islam is taken to the extent of extremity. It is never stated neither in the Koran nor the Sharia’ that a man should be punished for not having beard. Having a beard is only a sunnah (not obligation). It is a choice. The new government really depicts a wrong and misguided Islamic governing as the people are seen oppressed and in total deficit in essential needs.
The boy is known to be in a local orphanage. When Amir finds the orphanage, he goes berserk to learn that the director has sold the boy (let’s say Shahir) to the Talibans who come every week for children. The director defends his act by saying that he never has the intention of selling the kids. He only wants to save and raise the kids. He has his own family in Iran and Pakistan but his love for the kids is stronger than his love for his family. He adds that why should Amir comes and saves only one child and leaves as a hero when there are more children in the orphanage begging for mercy? He justifies later that the place is deprived of basic needs and the only choice to feed the hungry stomachs is by selling the kids to the Talibans. He shows his rugged clothes that he never takes a penny from the profit. He just wants to keep the other kids alive, at least for another year.
Then Amir leaves with his driver in disappointment and learns that Shahir is now with one of the big cheeses of the Talibans. Shahir is actually with Aseef who now looks more like a big thug with beard. Aseef refuses to surrender Shahir to Amir without claiming his price. Aseef attacks him and leaves Amir in horror. It’s like a deja vu when Shahir later picks his slingshot hit Aseef by his eye (bull’s eye) with a small steel ball (take that, Aseef!). They leave the wailing Aseef and are chased by the Talibans but they make it to Pakistan safe and sound (alhamdulillah).
The next day when Amir wakes up from his sleep, he finds Shahir’s bed is empty. Amir thinks that the boy has ran away. He searches for him in every nook and cranny and sees him in the market. He follows the boy’s trail and finds that the boy is leading him into a mosque. He only wants to join the (jamaa’) congregation prayer. Amir who seems to burst in tears follows and takes his ablution. A song by Sami Yusuf is played which I can’t recall the title. That’s the best part of the movie. Amir is seen to be much diverting from Islam especially with his late father who drank Scotch and him drinking beers, really need to return to the right path illuminated by Islam. Personally, I like this scene.
Then the scene follows is that they return to America and Shahir lives with his new found family. Soraya’s father demands for Amir’s explanation for taking a Hazara under his roof. The general who is a pure Pashtun from root is not happy with Amir’s decision because he’s insanely conscious of his reputation as a Pashtun. Amir confesses and tells him the truth that that boy is actually his nephew and he’s a half blood Pashtun because his late father was his brother from his father’s sin.
The movie ends when Amir and Soraya takes Shahir to a field (maybe it’s spring because it’s windy) with many people flying kites. Khaled Hosseini makes a cameo and he talks to Amir for few second with faint superficial conversation (that’s cameo). Shahir is seen to have an interest in kites so Amir buys him a kite and takes a spool. He teaches him how to fly the kite and tells him that his father, Hassan was a great kite runner. They manage to cut a kite and Amir runs for the falling kite and ends with the same sentence that Hassan says years before “for you, a thousand times over”.
It is indeed one great movie. I can’t believe that it is only rated 7.7 stars in IMDB. It should receives 8 stars for at least because I cried into pools of tears. I should seek for the novel later. The strong message in the story is remarkable. It leaves me with something just like Khaled’s another novel “A Thousand Splendid Suns”. It touches me into the pit of my heart like Rumi’s poems. How Khaled brings the story and tell the audience the reality of Afghanistan and how he magnifies the tiny things in the society is remarkable. For the strong emotion it carries, believe it or not “The Kite Runner” is one of the literature that is studied in the USA and I believe that it should be. I recommend his novels if anyone wants to try for some change =).
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