Saturday, December 27, 2014

December 27 - The Kite Runner

Today’s movie is a drama with a scene that happens on December 27. Watch it tonight and enjoy.

THE KITE RUNNER                                 

In 2000 Amir Qadiri, an Afghan-American writer has just had his novel, A Season for Ashes published when he gets a phone call from Rahim Khan, an old friend of his father, who is living in Peshawar, Pakistan. Amir flashes back to 1979 Afghanistan. Amir was the son of a wealthy man called   Agha Sahib. Amir’s best friend is Hassan, the son of his father’s servant, Ali. Amir participates in kite fighting, with a Hassan acting as a retriever, who gets the crashed kites that Amir has won by cutting their strings. Amir often reads stories, his own and others to Hassan. Hassan vows absolute obedience to Amir. Three older boys bully and taunt Amir, but Hassan drives them off. However, on the day when Amir wins the citywide kite-fighting contest, tragedy strikes. Hassan goes to retrieve the last kite when he is cornered and raped by the leader of the bullies, Assef. Amir observes this but does nothing. Amir later hides his watch under Hassan’s pillow and tells his father that Hassan stole it. Agha Sahib doesn’t believe it, but Ali and Hassan leave anyway. On December 27, 1979 [46:08 to 47:26] the Soviets invade Afghanistan and Agha Shib and Amir flee to Pakistan. By 1988 Amir has graduated from college in America with a literature degree. His father gets cancer. Amir meets Soraya, the daughter of a former Afghan general and they get married shortly before Amir’a father dies. Back in 2000 Amir goes to meet Rahim Khan and learned what happened in Afghanistan after he and his father fled. Rahim Khan tried to take care of their house and got Hassan to return as caretaker. However Afghan soldiers killed Hassan and his wife because they were members of an ethnic minority. Their son Sohrab was taken to an orphanage. Rahim Khan wants Amir to go to Afghanistan and find Sohrab. Amir resists until Rahim Khan reveals the Agha Sahib was actually Hassan’s father. Amir meets a Taliban official who is using Sohrab for sexual purposes and is surprised to find it is Assef. Amir and Sohrab escape from Assef and they return to the USA, where Amir takes Sohrab into his home.  

An interesting drama. Covers a society not usually mentioned in American films. Provides a window into the life of the Near East.

War in a Distant Country by David C. Isby (Arms and Armor Press, London, 1989) at page 23 gives the date of the invasion

Producers - Walter F. Parkes, Laurie McDonald, Sam Mendes and Sidney Kimmel

Awards – The film was nominated for Best Original Score at the 80th Academy Awards

Director - Marc Forster                                  

Screenplay - David Benioff                      

Runtime – 2 hours 8 minutes                                                        

Released – December 14, 2007                                  

Starring –

Khalid Abdalla as Amir Qadiri
Zekeria Ebrahimi as Young Amir
Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada as Young Hassan
Homayoun Ershadi as the Agha Sahib (Baba)
Atossa Leoni as Soraya
Shaun Toub as Rahim Khan
Abdul Salaam Yusoufzai as Assef
Elham Ehsas as Young Assef

Copyright by Ivan Walters in 2014. 



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