THE KITE RUNNER [PG-13]

The Kite Runner became the center of controversy this past fall when its release date was pushed back six weeks due to the potential threats to four young members of its cast. The reason is a rape of one of the boys that acts as a catalyst of Khaled Hosseini’s story of a friendship and redemption set against the turmoil in Afghanistan over the past three decades. The boys were removed from Kabul to an unknown location in United Arab Emirates due (according to the New York Times) to being “vulnerable to reprisal because of the film’s depiction of a culturally inflammatory rape scene.”

That rape scene occurs early in the film, and is handled with much discretion by director Marc Forster, who displays the same firm rapport with young actors he had with Finding Neverland. Adapted from Hosseini’s international bestseller, the film is certainly respectable – well-acted, handsomely shot and scored. And it dares to be authentic in its use of its young Afghan actors, its locations (Western China is the stand-in for Afghanistan), and its use of spoken Dari for a good third of its dialogue. Yet at its heart it is an old-fashioned, if somewhat clumsy redemptive melodrama – this year’s Big Message Picture.

Forster’s film is told in flashbacks, beginning in 2000 with Amir (Khalid Abdalla), the story’s protagonist, connecting with his past. Now a novelist living in San Francisco with his wife, he and his father escaped Afghanistan during the Russian invasion some years before. His childhood friend – Hassan – wasn’t so lucky, and the film flashes back to the 1970s tell their story. As boys, Amir (Zekeria Ebrahimi) and Hassan (Ahmad Khan Mahmidzada) are inseparable, though separated by class: Amir is the son of a wealthy businessman and outspoken political activist Baba (Homayoun Ershadi) and is the son of the family servant. Hassan is the more extroverted, making him a favorite of Baba, while Amir is more bookish, often clashing with his father. On the day the boys win the local kite running contest (joyfully shot with swooping aerial shots), Hassan is raped by a local bully, which Amir secretly witnesses. This drives an unspoken wedge between the boys, leading to Amir’s act of betrayal and the removal of Hassan from the household.

Baba’s political feelings make him an immediate suspect with the Russians invade, and father and son make a dangerous escape to Pakistan, and then San Francisco, where they resettle in a tight-knit refugee community. After his marriage and father’s death, he’s an old family friend contacts him to tell that Hassan has died and his son is a ward of the Taliban. Learning this, Amir decides to make the dangerous journey to Kabul to rescue the boy.

Forster’s film is one-part a story of personal redemptive and one-part a political thriller – how will the Westernized Amir sneak into Kabul and rescue his friend’s son without being captured and killed? Though exciting, this is the weakest part of the film, right down to the stereotypical villain who, it turns out, has a connection with Amir’s past. Yet there’s much to admire in Forster’s lean adaptation (from an abbreviated script by David Benioff): the believable performances from the two boys in the lyrical opening section; an understated depiction of Afghan refugees living in exile in America; and a rich, multifaceted performance by Ershadi as the stern patriarch. There were numerous sniffles at the screening I attended, which suggests that Forster did a capable job of bringing this well-loved story to the screen, though whatever complexities the novel might contain seem to be lost in this sentimental political melodrama.••• –Robert Nesti

Robert Nesti is the National Arts & Entertainment Editor for EDGE.