"For you, a thousand times over.”

In Kabul, two youths find their friendship tested when one is assaulted for loyalty to the other. The rich boy takes out his own self-loathing on the other boy and many years later has to rescue the son of the boy he treated so wrongly.

Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) is the son of a very well off Baba (Homayoun Ershadi), or father. Amir is a writer and is encouraged by family friend Rahim Khan (Shaun Toub) to continue his storytelling. His best friend is Hassan (Ahmad Kahn Mahmidzada) and the two boys share a love of flying kites.

Hassan is Amir’s kite runner or the boy who pursues the loser’s kite when the winner is able to cut the string. Hassan has an unnatural ability to know where the kite is going to land. During the annual competition, Amir is able to win. Hassan pursues the losing kite but is assaulted by a group of punks because he refuses to give up the kite. Amir happens to witness the assault and this changes his attitude towards Hassan.
He starts to treat him with disrespect and eventually Hassan and his father leave Baba’s service. The Soviets invade Afghanistan and Baba and Amir run to America. Many years later, Amir (Khalid Abdalla) is a published author and about to go on a book tour. He gets a call from Rahim Khan saying that he needs to come to Pakistan to visit the ailing man.
He postpones the tour to go to his side; however when he gets there he finds out that Khan has other news. The Taliban has killed Hassan and his wife and Khan wants Amir to sneak into Afghanistan to retrieve the boy. He also has a secret as to the true identity of Hassan that will make Amir reevaluate his feelings for him.
The Kite Runner is based on the best selling novel by Khaled Hosseini about betrayal and redemption. In my opinion, Amir internalizes a great deal of his self-loathing because he feels responsible for the assault that occurs on Hassan and a coward for not doing anything about it.

This causes him to take out this frustration by abusing Hassan. He only gets to redeem himself for this mistreatment after Hassan’s death. He takes up the seemingly impossible mission to go into Taliban occupied Afghanistan and rescue the boy. We get to see how both the Soviets and the oppressive Taliban have destroyed the country.
The once green and beautiful countryside is now a wasteland thanks to oppressive rules. It should come as no surprise that one of the punks responsible for the assault shows up as one of the Taliban officials. The story told in the film is a compelling one and comes across as a redemptive tale as also of one that shows the devastative effect of the Taliban.
The acting is uniformly excellent with much kudos going to the young boys. It’s not a story for the faint hearted and I’m sure the book is better as some scenes feel as if they’ve been abbreviated, but it is an excellent movie nonetheless.

The Kite Runner is presented in anamorphic widescreen (2.35:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. Special features include a commentary by director Marc Forster, author Khaled Hosseini, and screenwriter David Benioff.

The 14-minute “Words from the Kite Runner” looks at the writing of the book and the 24-minute “Images from the Kite Runner” is about making the film. There’s also a 1-minute public service announcement from Hosseini about www.takepart.com, which can also be played before the feature. Next is the 2-minute theatrical trailer and previews for other Dreamworks DVDs.
The Kite Runner is a compelling film that speaks to both betrayal and redemption. The subject matter can be disturbing but it does show that we can make up for our mistakes later in life.