Book vs. Movie

Everyone says “a picture is worth a thousand words” and that so much can be incorporated into a film with unlimited possibilities yet this screening did not seem to reach its potential. When I first picked up the book, I did not have high expectations yet with each turn of the page my expectations were heightened by the way the story unfolded and came together. It was just so powerful that I put those expectations on the movie. Even though I had seen the movie three years ago, it was almost as if I had amnesia because the book made me forget what actually happened in the movie and hopeful that the movie would be almost as good as the book. By the end of the first scene, I was completely disappointed in the movie’s representation of The Kite Runner. There are many things that made this movie so vastly different from the book. The lack of emotions, background story, and incorrect sequencing did not fully capture the relationships that were being paralleled.

            The first thing that caught my eye when watching the movie was the fact that the dates were different than the ones in the book. It made the movie seem out of touch than the book. Even though the movies are different than the books, I would have expected that the dates would have matched those from the book. Also, the sequencing in the movie was off. Certain events that occurred later in the book occurred earlier. As I continued watching the movie, I did not get the feeling that Amir and Hassan had done everything together and were very close but at the same time distant. To me, the lack of background information throughout the movie made it difficult to understand what was truly going on in the story or what the story was actually about. The movie made it seem that Amir and Hassan were two boys who grew up together, had a rough patch, and then never spoke again.

            There are many things I would have changed about the movie to make it a little more similar to the book. Some of the cast did not match how I pictured certain people in the book. Little details about certain characters were left off which bothered me. There was no distinction between the way Amir and Hassan looked, besides their clothing, in the movie. While reading the book, I imagined Hassan shorter than the boy who was casted in the movie. In the book, Hassan was given a cleft lip and for his birthday Baba had his cleft lip fixed that left a scar. In the movie, Hassan did not seem to have any birth defects and Baba had given Hassan a kite, which the two boys flew in the kite tournament. To me, it did not fully capture Baba’s love for Hassan as the book did. The scene where Rahim Khan asks to read Amir’s story was completely different than the book. Again, there was no concept that Amir strived to please his father, there did not seem to be any jealousy towards Hassan, and there was no comparison between the two boys. As I watched the movie, there were certain scenes where I thought should have had more emotion to allow the viewer to feel what the characters felt at that particular moment. I felt that at certain points the man who played Amir should have been narrating and giving at least some background information.

            In my opinion, the book was more enjoyable than the movie. The book was able to tug at your emotions and you were able to relate to the characters where as in the movie, it was just another story between two childhood friends who grew apart after one had left. The movie seemed as if it was a collection of clips that were pieced together and not placed correctly. It seemed boring.

Movie versus Book

Overall, the movie did a good job accurately describing the tone and movie and capturing certain details that were explicit in the book. From the perspective of someone not knowing the issues with the Russian invasion or the dichotomy between Hazara and Pashtun, I think movie does a good job at giving insight to the background of the Afghan culture. I appreciated that the movie kept in certain details and lines directly from the book which really complete the story. The part where Hassan comments about why Amir’s character did not just smell onions to get the pearls, or when Rahim Khan tell’s Baba that children are not coloring books that you can fill in with your favorite color are small details yet really important to the character development. The movie even went as far to put the details of coating the kite string to make it better in the kite flying tournament, and Baba pushing his Russian doctor away from him. In the movie Baba did not give Hassan the surgery for his lip his birthday, but instead takes him out to get a kite. I think that the director used that to find a way to show viewers the liveliness and beauty of Kabul, because the contrast between post and pre war were more than evident after Amir returns back. After Amir goes back home the city was completely dark and tense which was the complete opposite of how it was in his childhood. 

One of my favorite things about the movie that the book is unable to do was that they actually spoke their language. This made the movie so much more authentic and thought it was a really good choice by whoever made the movie. I bet finding bilingual actors made the initial making of this movie even more difficult. 

The most noticeable thing that the movie left out was how everything happened after Amir got Sohrab. A really emotional and intense part of the book for many readers was Sohrab’s suicide attempt. Without that scene you still got a good sense of Sohrab’s pain especially when he talked about not wanting his parents to be alive to see him  dirty and full of sin. The director probably thought that the same core meaning of the book was not lost when taking out that scene and it would have been flat to watch Amir make phone calls about getting Sohrab into America. It would have been nice to keep that scene, but to do that it would extend the movie with some details that the director thought were unnecessary or simply too long. If the suicide attempt was kept in the movie then all the issues about paperwork and visas would have to be added and if they  did not do it complete and right I’m glad they did not do it at all because thats not the type of heavy subject that should be rushed through. 

Comment on Max's

      I agree with Max in that Hassan should have had a cleft lip in the movie as well. Because this was not included, the scene in which Baba buys him a surgery for his birthday was also eliminated. The surgery is a huge sign that Baba cares about Hassan as much as Amir. This action by Baba is a key element in the story that depicts his love for his second son. It was probably not included in the movie because it is hard to resemble a cleft lip, but I feel that it would have added a lot to the portrayal of their relationship.
      I was also surprised by the fact that Sohrab's suicide was not included in the movie. I find that scene to be one of the most emotional and important parts of the movie, as it demonstrates how all of the hardships that this young boy has been through finally take a toll on him. He is sick of all of the disappointments, and nostalgic of his old life, which pushes him to try to kill himself. Also, his suicide makes Amir pray and it is what leads him to become religious. Because Sohrab survived, Amir becomes a highly religious person, and that is an aspect of the novel that should have been included in the movie.

Movie vs Book

     There are many intricate details from the novel "The Kite Runner" that were excluded from the production of the movie. First, when creating the movie the director choose to start the movie when Amir is making a phone call to Rahim Kahn. However, in the novel it shows Amir in an interview. In my opinion, this was a good choice by the director. I think that showing that he was in a dilemma as an adult made it so the viewer of the picture wanted to know what was the cause of this problem.
     The second detail that was left out by the director was the fact that Hassan had a cleft palate. In the novel, Baba takes Hassan to get his cleft palate fixed for his birthday out of love. This is a present that would last a lifetime. Contrary to the novel, the film shows Baba buying Hassan a kite on his birthday. I did not particularly like this because it took away from the fact that Baba put lots of thought and care into his present. It was not an object, rather something out of love.
     Another aspect of the novel that was left out by the director of the movie was that Sorhab tried to kill himself. Although I understand the fact that he might not have wanted to show something so graphic into the book, I think that it is something that is very important into setting up the relationship between Amir and Sorhab. It reinforced the idea that Sorhab would have rather killed himself than go back to an orphanage.
     Overall, I enjoyed reading the book more than I enjoyed the movie. The small details that were included in the book made the book so enjoyable. It also made the book realistic. In my opinion, directors should start to pay more attention to the actual storyline of the books and not digress from them too much. Sometimes the small details make something enjoyable as a whole.

Book and Movie Comparison

Book to Film Comparison

What struck me as most different from the book to movie adaptation was the exclusion of Sohrab's suicide. At first, I thought perhaps the filmmakers chose to do this because a child's suicide can be quite graphic and scarring. However, after pondering this I realized they did not seem to have any qualms about the rape scene. Perhaps this is because the rape was, in essence, the central event that spurred the novel and therefore had to be shown.
After thinking about it, though, I think the primary reason for the decision to remove the suicide scene was because the betrayal of Sohrab would have set Amir's growth back a notch. In the novel, I hated Amir all over again for breaking his promise. Since the movie was on a time constraint, I believe the filmmakers decided that once the viewers liked Amir they should not have been prompted to again feel hatred for him.
As far as the actors go, I believe the only ones that were cast correctly were Baba, Sohrab, and Soraya. Firstly, I did not like the actor they chose to play Hassan. I always pictured him as strikingly beautiful and down to earth. The actor looked neither wise nor holy. Another big mistake was the casting of Assef. The actor who played him was quite scrawny and weak-looking. When he was threatening Hassan and Amir I did not feel intimidated at all.
The problem with Rahim was much of the same. He seemed to be a fragile old man; he was not the strong father figure Amir looked up to. I believe the casting of Amir as a child was also sub par; I neither disliked nor liked the actor.  Also, Amir as an adult was completely off, in my opinion. I thought he came off as slightly unintelligent.
On the bright side, I think the actor for Baba was a pretty good choice. He seemed strong and respectable. Sohrab was more like how I pictured Hassan as a child; I wonder why the filmmakers chose to make Sohrab and Hassan look so different. Perhaps it was an accident.
Soraya was well cast, too. She was similar to what I had imagined.
Overall I thought the style of the film was well developed. I particularly enjoyed the shots of the kites flying in the air; it seems to be CG, but it's still believable. Also, the depiction of Kabul before and after the invasion was striking, and the scenes of rape and stoning were difficult to watch but not scarring. As far as sending the message of the book, I think the movie was successful. It opened the eyes of the audience to the horrible events that took place in the Middle East at the time. It also conveyed the theme of friendship overcoming the prejudices of race.
I appreciated how the actors spoke in their native language. It made the experience more believable; I always get frustrated when actors in films set in a foreign country speak English.
On it's own, the film was quite good. When compared to the book, however, I do not think it quite captured the whole story.

Thoughts on movie

I'll start by saying that I thought the movie was a significant downgrade to the novel. I think the actors chosen were poor and the movie left out too many emotional and valuable parts of the book. I believe that the movie missed out on a lot of the emotional aspects that the book had provided to the reader. Most significantly, the scene where Sohrab cuts his wrists out of anger after being told that he'd have to go back to an orphanage was left out of the novel. This scene was key to solidifying the fact that Amir grew into a completely new person.

I absolutely hated how the movie started. I believe the fact that the movie started with Amir all grown up takes away from his growth from his mistakes as a child into a mentally at peace man. To me, the Kite Runner's main story was based around the growth of Amir, and they almost killed it by starting the movie with Amir as an adult.

I think the kid versions of Hassan and Amir were great and almost perfectly fit the characters I remember reading about in the book. I also think Rahim Khan was a great fit for his character. Baba, Amir as an adult, Soraya, and even the General just simply did not fit the characters I had envisioned when I read the book. Amir seems too relaxed about everything. Baba did not give off the same totalitarian-type attitude portrayed in the book. I thought Soraya would have been a bit more attractive, because in the book Amir describes her as if she's a super model. Oh, I forgot to mention Assef. My god what a terrible actor. I mean, seriously? Who the hell directed this movie? Are you dumb? Assef was literally white...no...almost clear colored and by the time he's the taliban official, he's black? Seriously?

I think that the movie was also very fast-paced, and that if I had not read the book, that I would not be able to piece together a lot of the things that went on in the plot. The movie also failed to create a lot of the strong relationships built up in the novel. Baba and Ali do not seem to hold more than a normal servant to boss relationship. Hassan and Amir as children also (to me) don't seem to have as strong of a relationship before Hassan gets raped like they do in the novel. In the novel, they are characterized as being literally inseparable before the raping. In the movie, the two seem to not have that strong of a relationship.

I do think the movie did some good things, though. I think the movie captured a lot of the hostility that Afghanistan gave off in the book in the second half of the book. I also think that the movie captured a lot of the nostalgia and regret that Amir expressed in the book on his travel/adventure back in Afghanistan.