For specific showing times, please refer to theatre notices.

By Wu Wen-zhi　Translated by Ann Lee

The Kite Runner　2008/03/07

Rating: PG-13　Drama

The quote, "For you, a thousand times over," from the critically acclaimed novel "The Kite Runner" by Khaled Hosseini, has touched the hearts of people from all over the globe. Now, in film version, "The Kite Runner" will once again recount this story of deep friendship to viewers in Taiwan. The story starts in Afghanistan and follows two boys, Amir and Hassan, who are more like brothers than just best friends. Though their friendship runs deep, a divide grows between them that eventually becomes too large to bridge when Amir leaves his home country for guaranteed safety in the United States. As Afghanistan grows in turmoil, Amir gets married and becomes very successful in the States. Eventually, news comes to Amir of Hassan's son, who has been left as an orphan somewhere in Afghanistan. Amir decides to return to his home country and make right with his old friend by finding and rescuing his missing son.
The key to success for this international best-seller and film is how the writer delicately portrays the interaction between the two child actors. Their loyalty to each other is represented, not through big words and speeches, but with tender moments; Amir reads fairy tales to Hassan, Hassan uses a slingshot to protect his friend, etc. The film's name, "The Kite Runner", comes from a game that these two Afghan boys play. While "kite fighting", Amir is responsible for cutting off their opponents' kites. Hassan is Amir's "kite runner", the teammate who runs to catch the kite before it falls to the ground. Director Marc Forster used high-tech cinematography to capture the fascinating "kite fights" between the kids; the audience will be excited to watch these kites vigorously climb, hover, chase, entwine, and cut across each other in the sky.

After the boys' falling out, however, the story is more like the falling of a kite to the ground than a toy's blissful floating. Their experiences lead them to a cruel separation that is full of pain on Hassan's side and shame on Amir's. It's his determination to make right with Hassan that makes Amir return to Afghanistan and find his old friend's son; and the search is a self-reflective adventure indeed. Of course, "the film" also focuses on other themes like father/son relationships and cultural assimilation--even while living in the United States, Amir's family insists on keeping family traditions alive.

Even though the film is set in a far-off place with events that might seem inaccessible in your present situation, "The Kite Runner", above all, is a classic story of true friendship, betrayal and redemption. Though the scenery and particulars might be different, the message is still the same. As the film's tagline states, "There is a way to be good again."