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The Kite Runner

Freedom and humanity

THE KITE RUNNER
Director: Marc Forster
Duration: 2 hours 2 minutes
Cert. 12A

The Kite Runner is a tale of the friendship between two boys from different classes and ethnic groups growing up together in Kabul in Afghanistan.

The kites that they fly together symbolise freedom and bridge classes, races and generations. After Amir fails to stand up for his friend Hassan, who is brutally assaulted for being a hated ethinic minority, Amir comes to despise Hassan who reminds him of his own cowardice. Amir later moves to America with his father Baba, but when the chance comes to make amends to his loyal friend Hassan, Amir returns to his homeland Afghanistan, only to find it brutalised both by the Soviet invaders and then the Taleban.

Friendship and fathers

This film touches many themes including friendship, betrayal and the power of fathers to shape their sons’ lives. Baba, Amir’s father, has strong principles (indeed, he becomes the moral voice within the story), but damages his son’s sense of identity by rejecting Amir’s individuality. Amir, however, later gains confidence and makes a stand for his nephew against his formidable father-in-law, reminding us of how he failed to stand up for his friend in childhood.

Echoes of Jesus’s love

Hassan’s unconditional love for and forgiveness of his friend Amir echoes the love of Jesus in the face of rejection. Despised by many and betrayed by his friend, the figure of Hassan challenges us to think how we respond to the love of Jesus.

Both the systems of Communism and Islam are portrayed as terrifying and dehumanising, pictured graphically in the orphans and trees without limbs. This is also a challenge to us as Christians to prevent ourselves being seen by others as part of a judgmental and oppressive religious system, but rather as mirroring God’s love to the world.

Principled life

The author Khaled Hosseini offers hope in encouraging us to stand on our principles in a broken world. However, the brutality and devastation portrayed in the film cries out for a wider justice, which the film does not address. Overall, though, this is an amazing film that left me saddened but warmed and itching to read the book.

Stuart Parker,
Guildford