Adapted from Khalid Hosseini’s best-seller, The Kite Runner takes place in pre- and post-1979 Afghanistan, when the Russian invasion and the subsequent Taliban takeover rocked the country to its core.  At the centre of the story is young Amir, the son of a wealthy merchant, whose kite-flying friendship with servant boy Hassan is the highlight of their lives. 

Plucky Hassan is loyal, cheerful and brave but Amir is not. Saving Amir from bullies, Hassan is left to their mercy by his cowardly friend.  The resulting act of shameful violence haunts Amir down the years into adulthood.  Now an émigré in America, Amir gets a call for help and heads back to Afghanistan to rescue Hassan’s missing son.

Marc Forster’s film is beautiful and brutal, symbolic and simple.  The director of Finding Neverland and Stranger than Fiction is no stranger to heartfelt, spiritual stories.  But his visual dexterity and the ability to coax cracking performances from his young cast are the film’s strongest points. 

Mostly The Kite Runner is beautifully measured.  And the kids’-eye view of pre-revolutionary Afghanistan is gorgeously rendered – you can almost taste and touch the place.  Best of all, though, is the interplay between young Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and the Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada).  It’s a perfect depiction of boyhood friendship through daily details – boisterous kite-flying, catchphrase-quoting from The Magnificent Seven and bullish bravado.

It’s also an unflinching portrait of brutality. And not just the bloody violence of racial bigotry but the more commonplace brutality of everyday betrayal.  It’s hard to know which hits hardest.  Certainly The Kite Runner holds onto its 12A certificate only by a kite’s string.  Strong violence in the latter half and a disturbing incident of child-on-child rape in the first, make for uncomfortable viewing.

Yet, The Kite Runner is ultimately about the power of friendship and redemption. And thanks to young Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada’s performance as Hassan, the film has a sweetness and joie de vivre that is almost exhilarating, justifying the kite-flying symbolism.  It’s a mesmerizing performance.  Pity the ending is so rushed and emotionally underpowered.

One of the best films of the year, if you can handle the lows, the highs are extraordinary.