Khaled Hosseini's book The Kite Runner took the reading world by storm. Afghanistan had been in the news, so had the Taliban. Set against the Afghan backdrop, the story goes through a lifetime - the years of the Soviet invasion and moving on through the Taliban takeover. These major moments in history are seen through the eyes of the main characters in the story, two of them just children for a large part of the book.

The story centers around a young boy Amir whose father is prosperous and proud, ably characterized by Homayoun Ershadi. The boy pales in comparison with the older man and right through the story, the father’s courage and strength are no way mirrored in the boy. Weak and self centered, he ambles on through the movie, giving in to the winds of fate to take over his life. But life has its moments of youth and youthfulness in Afghanistan as well and Amir and Hassan, the servant’s boy have their share of fun. Zekiria Ebrahimi plays the young Amir and Ahmad Khan Mahmoodzada infuses the young Hassan with a certain nobility. And so, let’s face it, was how the characters emerged in the book. 

The central theme of the book is betrayal – but not one that is epic in importance or earth shattering. Just a child’s conniving and the heartbreak that followed both for the one at the receiving end as well as for the perpetrator. Amir falsely accuses Hassan of stealing so he and his father are sent away from the household and so goes the one person who was fiercely loyal to him. All the wonderful hours of camaraderie and kite flying come to naught in a minute and words once spoken cannot be retraced without loss of face.

It is the story of a coward and how he cut off his nose to spite his face. It is also a story that is human. Have we been in a situation like that? From the wilds and the vicissitudes of Kabul, the scene shifts to California with Amir who moves there. But his heart is heavy with the knowledge of wrong doing and finally, he decides to put thing right. Even then, the character comes through as ineffectual but human.

Marc Foster does a great job as director in handling and guiding a wonderful cast through this story. He handles emotional areas well – as can be seen in Monster’s Ball and Finding Neverland – though the latter could have done without so much of tear-jerking. In this film, the emotions are handled delicately, with feeling and even the tears seem very much a part of this moving story. Somehow the story warrants that and the director is in his element. Like the book, all that emotion can be draining but it is a movie well worth watching.