THE KITE RUNNER is a film that spans decades. It starts with the childhood friendship between Amir (son of a well-off Afghan) and Hassan (son of his father's servant). They enter a kite flying contest that goes on every year in Kabul, Afghanistan. Amir doesn't fight and Hassan protects him. Their friendship shatters over time. They are further pulled apart geographically as Amir flees with his father when the Russians invade. Amir and his father comes to live in California. Amir continues to pursue his dream of writing stories like the ones he told Hassan. It finally comes to a point in 2000 when Amir finds out something about Hassan and undertakes a journey to forgive his past sins against Hassan.

TEH KITE RUNNER is a film that mixes coming-of-age, family, action, love, and forgiveness in a film that takes you on a journey with ups and downs. The film is a fascinating piece of work. The characters and history transforms them and drive the story.

SPECIAL FEATURES:
Director Marc Forster, author Khaled Hosseini, and screenwriter David Benioff talk about the production and challenges of doing THE KITE RUNNER in the audio commentary. The film can be played with or without a Public Service Announcement introduction by Khaled Hosseini.

Two featurettes are on the disc:
WORDS FROM THE KITE RUNNER- the director, author, and screenwriter talk about the story and the challenges of making it as a script (and why the novel would make a great film).
IMAGES FROM THE KITE RUNNER- a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the film from casting, locations (using Kashgar, China as Kabul), and post-production. The author also visits Kashgar during filming and diplomats from Afghanistan felt the film was authentic (the director wanted the film to be real).

Rounding out the extras are trailers for other films and the original theatrical trailer.

FINAL ANALYSIS: THE KITE RUNENR is a character drama that blends history and makes you care about what happens to the characters. Definitely worth watching.

this DVD review is (c)3-25-2008 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission. send all comments to lord_pragmagtic@hotmail.com  

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