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

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Jan. 3	7:00 AM	TMC
Fri. Jan. 8	9:00 AM	TMC

Cast

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

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

Colour:

Colour

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 Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | 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:

The scenes ostensibly taking place in Afghanistan were mainly shot in the cities of Kashgar and Tashkurgan in the Xinjiang region of China (officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region). The DVD commentary mentions that scenes shot in Kashgar include the kite tournament (at 24:15), the mosque where Amir prays (110:40), and Rahim Khan's apartment in Peshawar, Pakistan (76:11). Scenes shot in Tashkurgan include the opening scenes of a kite duel and the boys running the kite (06:00), the Pomegranate tree (19:04), and the Taliban compound where Amir meets Sohrab (101:00). Scenes shot in or outside of Beijing include the wedding (72:41) and the soccer match (96:53). The San Francisco bar scene (55:07) was also shot in China.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The last scene shows the kites flying in a strong wind, but there is none at ground level (note her hair), nor matching chop on the water, and the glimpse of a sailboat suggests a breeze from the another direction.

Quotes:

Young Hassan: For you, a thousand times over

Movie Connections:

Features The Magnificent Seven (1960)

Soundtrack:

Tanha Shudam Tanha

Nice transition from book to film

I know that to include everything in the book, the film would have to have been several hours long, so I think they did their best to include things that were crucial and pivotal to the story. I thought the casting was great, the children who played Amir and Hassan were very good actors. And the guy who played Amir as an adult was great! The scenes between him and Baba were especially touching. I thought the locations they used were interesting... scenes set in Afghanistan were shot in China, and one scene that took place in Fremont, CA (the graduation scene) was actually shot on Treasure Island in San Francisco. I worked one day as an extra on "Kite Runner" and it was that day, the day they shot the graduation scene. We reported to Treasure Island in the morning, they checked everyone's wardrobe to make sure it looked like the late 80s, an then we took our places in the audience. They shot the scene over and over again until they were happy with it. It was cool to see the actors up close and also to see the book's author, who was on hand as a story consultant. I thought this book was excellent and I recommend both the book and the movie to anyone. This is a moving story about friendship, love, guilt and eventual redemption. "There is a way to be good again."